100 Moments
by ash the airbender
Summary: They both knew what "This" was. It was arguments and cuddling and cold shoulders and passionate nights and nervous finger-drumming and I'm-so-glad-you're-safe. 100 drabble-style Pepperony one-shots. On hiatus.
1. Jealousy

_A/N: These will be 100 drabble-style one-shots, each based on a one-word theme (chapter theme is included in the chapter title), with no per-chapter word limit. For the first few chapters you may notice I'm getting a feel for the characters and relationships, because this is my first time writing Pepperony and I'm not so great at writing with characters that aren't my own. (I know, why write fanfiction then, right? Well, it's good practice, and I need practice, especially in the romance department.)_

_Oh, and just know that anything I say that may be insulting about Spider-Man in this particular chapter is for the purposes of the story only. I love all superheroes. DC and Marvel both._

**1: Jealousy**

"That is so _like_ you, Tony!"

Tony Stark cringed. Boy was he in trouble. And not the sort of trouble he could take down in his metal suit. This was girlfriend trouble. _Pepper_ trouble. And worse than usual, too. Today, for whatever reason, Pepper was refusing to be rational. In an ironic role-reversal, _he_ was being the reasonable one and _she_ was refusing to listen. And what was worse, Tony had no idea what had caused it.

The extravagant billionaire followed his fuming redheaded girlfriend-slash-personal assistant into the house. The clack-clack of her black kitten heels led him into the foyer, and the both of them ignored Jarvis's customary, "Welcome home, Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts."

"Pepper, come on, give me a chance to explain," Tony pleaded to Pepper's retreating form as she barged into her office and threw her BlackBerry onto the accumulating piles of paperwork Tony made her deal with. The piles were labeled with different colored sticky notes. As easily distracted as a hyperactive puppy, Tony read some of the labels: Things Tony Needs to Sign, Events I Have to Drag Tony To, Personal Expenses, Records of Tony's Past One-Night Stands.

_She has records of every woman I've ever slept with? Wait. Why am I surprised? She's probably making sure I don't give her AIDS. And avoiding any more "guess what you're the father of my child" fiascos. Thank goodness that was a false alarm. Worst birthday ever. I hate lawsuits._

Abruptly, Pepper turned on her heel, just as Tony was reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. She prodded his chest with her finger in that no-nonsense way of hers, careful to avoid hitting the arc reactor, and fixed him with a fiery glare.

"Explain?" she repeated. "I don't think so, Anthony Stark." Ooh, his full name; this was bad. This was a Code Red relationship situation if there ever was one. "In fact, I don't want to here _anything_ you have to say!"

"Well, I wouldn't even know _what _to explain," Tony said, "Because you still haven't told me why you're upset! And I'm really confused!"

"Good! About time someone finally stumped Mr. I Know Everything Stark!"

Pepper was clutching her small black purse close to her chest, reorganizing the papers on her desk in a frenzy before attempting to shove past Tony, who was blocking the doorway of her office. He grabbed her shoulders firmly, and, with a huff of reluctance, Pepper stood still.

"Get out of my way, Tony," she ground out through gritted teeth.

"Not until we talk about this," he said. "Come on, you _always_ want to talk about _everything_, and usually _I_ refuse to listen, but now _you're_ the one being unreasonable."

There was an extended moment of silence during which Pepper showcased the "I am not amused" look she had perfected shortly after becoming Tony's PA.

"Now that you've shed light on the irony of this situation, are you done manhandling me?" Sarcasm. Good. That meant they were on the right track. Tony could handle Sarcastic Pepper much better than he could handle Unreasonable Pepper.

"Only if you promise you won't run away." Tony didn't wait for Pepper's response; he released her shoulders all the same. If she wanted to run, he wouldn't stop her. Okay, maybe he would, but he had to at least _act_ like he wouldn't.

Tony watched Pepper's eyes as she struggled with wanting to run from her problems, determining it would in fact be better to talk things through, and plopped her perfect butt into her desk chair. Tony cleared a space for himself among Pepper's piles and perched on her desk, discarding his jacket and shoes on the floor, to Pepper's obvious annoyance.

"Pepper," he bean slowly. "I understand that you're upset. I can't imagine why you would be, and it would really be helpful if you told me, and I promise to listen."

Tony wasn't used to being the rational one in this relationship, but as Pepper started to cool down, he realized he wasn't doing as bad as he feared. They were getting somewhere. Maybe if they had a nice long discussion, they wouldn't have so many arguments. Not that Tony could complain about their arguments; they usually resulted in sex anyways. Hot, passionate, falling-out-of-bed sex.

…Tony shook himself to clear his thoughts. _Don't get all kinky now; try to be serious,_ he told himself. He returned his attention to his girlfriend.

When Pepper didn't speak, Tony prompted her again. "What did I do that was stupid and how can I make up for it?"

This seemed to be the wrong thing to say. Pepper raised her eyebrows, clenched her purse with white knuckles, and spoke in an alarmingly calm voice. Uh-oh. Calm-Before-the-Storm Pepper was even less manageable than Unreasonable Pepper.

"What did you do, Tony?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "I'd have you answer that question yourself if you weren't the most clueless man I've ever known."

Pepper stood, slowly, maintaining eye contact as she tapped her purse against her leg, like a bomb ticking down to its explosion. "For a genius who's slept with more women than I can count, you are _hopeless_ when it comes to relationships. I don't know what I was thinking, getting into This with you." They both knew what "This" was. It was arguments and cuddling and cold shoulders and passionate nights and nervous finger-drumming and I'm-so-glad-you're-safe.

"Pepper, you've made it clear that you're mad, just tell me _why_." Why did women always insist on drawing things out like this? Beating dead horses with sticks, or whatever the messed-up expression was. "And try to do it without yelling. Not that I don't think you're sexy when you're angry. You totally are."

It was probably a good thing Pepper slapped him before Tony could continue on that particular tangent.

"Sorry. I'm listening, I swear." He put on his best I-care-about-what-you-have-to-say face and clamped his mouth shut.

Pepper looked all wound up like a spring for a moment, and Tony braced herself for an explosion, but then the redhead shut her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath. Tony knew those yoga lessons he paid for Pepper to attend would be worth it.

"Tony," Pepper finally said. "I know you're used to fan-girls."

_Oh, _that's_ what this is about. But… c'mon! Isn't she overreacting just a little? So that woman… Grace? Gloria. It was Gloria. So Gloria flirted with me, but it's not like I flirted back! …All that much._

"And ever since we started dating I've tried to be really accepting of that," Pepper continued, "But…" _Here comes the yelling…_ "The way you let that woman you rescued—"

"Gloria," Tony prompted. "Or maybe it was Flora. Laura. Laurence? No, that's a guy name…"

"I was _saying_," Pepper said, interrupting Tony's tangent, "The way you let Gloria-Flora-Laura-Laurence get all fresh—"

"_Fresh_?" Tony repeated before he could think to keep his mouth shut. "What decade are we in again?"

"Oh shut the hell up."

"Jeez oh man, Pepper, don't be such a square." _I have watched way too many movies for my own good._

"I will kill you."

"Sorry." _Note to self: SHUT THE HELL UP._

"I just don't like how you handled that situation," Pepper continued, sounding significantly less calm. "You made off like she has a chance with you, which makes me feel like you're not serious about our relationship. I'm not going to be just a fling, Tony; I thought I'd made that clear."

"You have! I didn't mean—"

"And what's more, it…" Pepper stopped, sighed, stared at the ceiling, the walls, the floor, but not at Tony.

"Go on. I'm listening. I swear."

Pepper took a few steps towards the door. "Never mind. It sounds stupid. Just know that I am not happy with you and you are _not_ getting laid tonight."

Despite knowing he should act submissive and whatnot, Tony grinned. "Don't think you can distract me so easily, Pep." Pepper's jaw tightened; she hated when Tony called her Pep, and he knew that. "I want to know what you were going to say. Tell me. I swear I won't laugh, or think you're stupid, or whatever you're afraid of."

Pepper glared, but evidently thought it wasn't worth the fight and divulged. "It just… it reminded me of _Spider-Man 3_. Okay? When Peter upside-down kisses the woman he rescued in front of MJ?"

_Spider-Man 3_? Pepper could not be serious. She wasn't even _trying_. This was ridiculous. Here Tony was trying to talk sense into someone who was using a crappy threequel of a comic book superhero movie as the basis of her argument. _Spider-Man 3_? She couldn't even come up with an example of a cliché misunderstanding that led to jealousy in a _good_ movie?

Undeniably amused, Tony bit down hard on the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Instead, he said in what he only hoped was a passably serious tone, "But MJ and Peter get together in the end, so it's all good, right?"

Pepper glared. "That's not the point, Tony! You don't take anything seriously!" _I'm supposed to take her _Spider-Man 3_ reference seriously? She's kidding, right?_

Apparently not. Pepper threw her hands up, stormed out of the office, and chucked her purse at the sofa, where it landed and spilt its contents – wallet, keys, lipstick – onto the floor. Tony stood and followed, feeling like something had to be messing with Pepper's mind to make her act so dramatic and unreasonable over something so insignificant.

"Then what _is_ the point? Tell me, please, so we can end this ridiculous conversation! What's the point?!" This was getting out of hand, Tony realized. He should have just let Pepper fume for a while and made up in the morning. Then he could have been spared this entire pointless exchange. But he hadn't been lying when he said he thought Pepper was sexy when she was angry, and despite being a little frightened for his life, Tony couldn't deny this assertive – no, aggressive side of Pepper kind of turned him on.

Minus all the Spider-Man stuff. Because he was a way cooler superhero than that genetically modified dweeb.

"The point is…" Pepper paused. "The point… Oh, I don't know, Tony! The point is, I don't want my life to be like _Spider-Man 3_; I hated that movie!"

_Don't laugh. Don't laugh. DON'T laugh._

"So all this…" _DON'T laugh._ "Just to admit you're jealous?" Tony took a tentative step towards Pepper, realizing just then that she was wearing a new dress and her legs looked irresistible. _Way to notice that _after_ you've lost your sex privileges._

"JEALOUS?!"

_Crap. Wrong thing to say. Damn those distractingly hot legs._

"I am not _jealous_ of _anything_ that _slut_ has! I am not _jealous_ that she was clinging to you like a _barnacle_! I am not _jealous_ of her stupid _perfect_ hair and _perfect_ figure and I'm _not_ jealous that you flew her around a bit more than was necessary because she called you _her hero_ and offered to thank you with _sex_!"

_What can I learn from this? No more rescuing women? No more rescuing _attractive _women? _Tony sighed. Yeah, this was definitely a conversation they should have waited to have till morning.

"So what I'm hearing is—"

"SHUT UP, you worthless… attractive… insufferable… I'm going to bed!"

Tony figured she meant she was going to bed _alone_ – _Even though it's _my _house_ – but he figured he'd ask anyway. "Can I—?"

"SLEEP ON THE DAMN COUCH."

Yup. He figured.

Once Tony knew Pepper was out of earshot, Tony collapsed on the sofa. "What am I doing wrong?"

"According to Ms. Potts, you've been flirting with other women," Jarvis said.

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Sorry, sir."

There was a long pause, during which Tony wondered what it was about today that had made Pepper so volatile. He could hardly help it if he had to rescue the occasional damsel-in-distress, and if the ladies had a tough time keeping their hands off this literal knight in shining armor, well, who could blame them? Usually Pepper was pretty accepting of that. But today…

"Jarvis, has anything happened recently that would put Pepper on edge? Is she sick? Did someone die?"

"Her vitals are normal, sir, and she shows no symptoms of illness. A scan of every known contact she has had in the past five years shows that none have died recently or been diagnosed with terminal illness."

"Well, what is she doing now?"

"Ms. Potts is currently in the master bedroom throwing pillows at the wall and cursing both you and a certain Darien Drake."

The name was entirely unfamiliar to Tony. Then again, Pepper had always strived not to mention her personal life around her boss. "Run a scan on Darien Drake, Jarvis."

After a moment's pause, Jarvis spoke. "Darien Drake seems to be Ms. Potts's former boyfriend and sexual partner." At this Tony scowled. "Analyzing the records of her texts, emails, and relationship status updates, it seems the relationship lasted only a few months and ended approximately a year ago."

"What ended the relationship?"

"It seems Ms. Potts caught Mr. Drake cheating on her."

_That bastard._ "Anything that would have reminded her of this today?"

"Security camera feed from the restaurant you took her to this evening shows that he approached her during the time when you left to handle that disaster in Las Vegas."

That would explain Pepper's temper, and why she wouldn't want Tony flirting with anyone else, or anyone else flirting with Tony, since this Darien had cheated on her. _I feel like such a jerk._ "In that case, I probably shouldn't have accused her of being unreasonable."

"Probably not," Jarvis agreed.

"And I should have taken her seriously."

"Indeed."

"And I shouldn't have made fun of her."

"I should think you owe Ms. Potts an apology."

Tony stood, suddenly filled with purpose. "Indeed I do, Jarvis!"

"And sir?"

"Yeah?"

"It would probably be best not to bring up Mr. Drake during your apology. If I'm not mistaken, Ms. Potts typically doesn't appreciate you prying into her personal life."

"No, I do not."

Tony jumped, turning to where he'd heard Pepper's voice. She was standing in the doorway of the master bedroom, just down the hall, arms crossed, tapping her foot in annoyance.

_I am in so much trouble._

"You have two seconds to come up with an appropriate apology, Mr. Stark, or I am going to make your life miserable until I feel you've suffered enough."

Tony sighed. He was terrible at this part, the apology part. "Pepper, I'm sorry I gave you reason to be jealous. I think you're much better than whatever-her-name-was, and I _don't _want your life to be like _Spider-Man 3_." He smirked with self-assurance at that last part, earning him a half-hearted slap.

"You're insufferable. But fine. I forgive you for being an arrogant, insensitive jerk, only because I think it's sweet that you would have Jarvis check my phone records just to find out why I'm upset."

"Really?"

"Yes. But _don't ever_ do it again."

Pepper smiled, and Tony remembered why he _loved_ that smile, and why Pepper was insane if she thought Tony would ever leave her.

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	2. Morning

_A/N: Pre-Avengers, of course. This and the next few chapters will be part of a consecutive storyline, I think. Someone please check the tenses in this chapter for me! The format of it for some reason screwed with me and I kept wanting to switch from past to present._

**2: Morning**

Pepper had a morning routine that Tony very much approved of.

7am, the gorgeous redhead woke up, her hair tousled, careful not to wake the sleeping billionaire. Bare feet slid silently across luxurious carpeting and into the pristine marble bathroom.

7:15, after a refreshing shower and a rinse with that apple-scented body wash that completely intoxicated Tony, Pepper ran a brush through her soft hair and brushed her teeth with spearmint extra-whitening toothpaste.

7:20, Pepper donned one of Tony's shirts, slid into her worn-out slippers, and made her way to the kitchen, prodding the slumbering genius and eliciting a groan of resistance and a muffled, "Five more minutes."

7:30, around when Tony was staggering into the land of the living, he could already smell the delicious breakfast Pepper was making in the adjacent room. The promise of food was the only thing that got him out of bed, and the promise of kisses was what got him to brush his teeth (with Pepper's toothpaste, because his ran out and he kept forgetting to inform her of this).

7:35, Tony collapsed back in bed, sprawled across the rumpled covers, because even his growling stomach could not overcome the lure of a bed that smelled like Pepper.

7:45, the sound of Pepper singing, albeit slightly off-key, once again roused Tony. She was dancing around the kitchen in an oversized button-down shirt, flipping pancakes and pouring coffee. The song playing over the house's impressive sound system was one that Tony did not recognize, most likely because it lacked elements of rock or guitar solos of any kind.

7:50, the wake-up call. "Tony! Rise and shine! I've made chocolate chip pancakes!" Tony did not respond other than to smile into his mattress because his girlfriend is freaking adorable.

7:55, Pepper danced into the master bedroom and plopped down on the bed beside Tony. She appreciated how his hair seemed to have a way of getting as mussed as possible in his sleep, despite the fact that Tony spent the majority of his sleep in one position: wrapped around her like an affectionate monkey. Meanwhile, his hair looked like a porcupine and he had the attention span of a fruit fly. He was a veritable zoo.

8am, Pepper's small hands shoved at his shoulders until, muttering under his breath about no rest for the weary, Tony rose, got somewhat dressed (if boxer shorts could even count as "somewhat dressed"), and joined her in the kitchen.

8:05, coffee, black for Tony and more-cream-and-milk-than-actual-caffeine-because-some-people-can-function-in-the-morning-without-drugging-themselves for Pepper.

8:10, around when Tony became capable of human syntax, they shared sweet sleepy kisses.

"You make it hard to hate mornings," Tony said, eyelids drooping, smile crooked, arc reactor… doing whatever science-y thing it was supposed to.

"There's nothing to hate about waking up next to me," Pepper replied, swiftly brushing her lips against his before sipping her not-quite-coffee.

"There's nothing to hate about chocolate chip pancakes either," Tony said after swallowing a bite. "Yum."

8:40, after taking their sweet time eating breakfast, Pepper and Tony briefly parted ways. He went to the bathroom to freshen up and shave, she cleared the dishes into the sink and dried her hands with a dish towel before joining him in their room to get dressed.

8:50, Pepper chooses her outfit for the day while going over the schedule.

"What monotonous torture are you putting me through today, cruel mistress?" Tony asked, as always.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "You have to meet with the board of directors at one. Tony groaned.

"I know you hate it," Pepper said, snapping on her bra and slipping into a pair of sheer nylons, "But it is Friday, after all. There's also the charity benefit, at the St. Claire's. You'll need to show your face for at least a couple hours, mingle a bit. And we have to be packed for London tomorrow, so keep that in mind. You'll need at least one suit; you're making an appearance on the BBC. An interview about renewable energy."

"Self-sustaining energy," Tony corrected automatically.

"You know I don't care."

A moment passed in silence while Pepper shimmied into a black dress and turned to Tony to help her with the zipper. He took his time, as always, because Pepper's skin had a way of making his breath catch. (And he also liked to make her feel uncomfortable. Old habits die hard.)

"Also, Reynolds wanted me to inform you that all the building permits are in order for Stark Tower. Construction begins on the fourteenth."

Pepper turned to face him, doing up his tie and smoothing out any creases with a self-satisfied smile. "Ready for the day?" she asked, her hand lingering a moment on his chest, tracing the edges of the arc reactor.

Tony brought up his hand to grasp hers, dark eyes shining with his smile as they gazed into hers. "It's Friday, you said?"

Sliding out of his grip, Pepper rolled her eyes. "That's _all_ you got out of that? I thought for sure you'd at least be excited about Stark Tower! Construction begins _the fourteenth_, did I not say that?"

"But that's the thing," Tony said with his usual reasonable unreasonableness. "It begins _the fourteenth_. Today is the twenty-first. I will be excited. On the fourteenth."

"At least be looking forward to _something_." Pepper huffed, grasping at straws. She slid into her heels and popped into the bathroom to apply her makeup.

"I'm excited to take you to the charity benefit as my date.

Pepper turned, a powder brush in her hand, one eyebrow delicately raised. "Tony, you know why we can't do that. If word got out that Pepper Potts was sleeping with her boss, the infamous womanizer Tony Stark…" She shuddered. "I can only imagine the headlines…."

" 'Ambitious Secretary Climbs the Proverbial Ladder the Old-Fashioned Way,' " Tony mused with a mischievous grin. "But Pep, you're forgetting; we don't care what the newspapers think! You're datingIron Man, _the_ Iron Man, and Iron Man answers to no god, and certainly no _Saturday Evening Post_!"

Pepper snorted. Typical Tony, with his flair for the dramatic. But he had a point; why _did_ she care so much about what other people thought? She'd spent the better part of the past decade struggling to maintain Tony's image only for her attempts to be sabotaged by Tony himself, who gave image the finger and lived his life however the hell he pleases. And what had that led to? His weapons company stopped manufacturing weapons; he'd made himself a name in the energy business. The military wanted his Iron Man suit; he saved the day a couple times and they forgot all about it. The palladium keeping him alive started poisoning him; he invented a new element _because he could_.

Nothing went wrong for Anthony Stark.

"Alright, Tony." Pepper smiled with what she hoped passed for confidence and masked her nerves. "Tonight I'll go as your date."

Tony's grin was a beacon of self-sustaining energy in itself, Stark Tower be damned. "Virginia Potts and Anthony Stark's first public appearance as a couple… And at a charity event! My, do we have class!"

"Right," Pepper said, rolling her eyes. "This from the man who lives off fast food, ramen, and takeout when there's no one around to cook for him. Real classy."

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	3. Dancing

_A/N: Takes place the same day as chapter 2. Also, would like to say that if any of my readers have ideas or suggestions for future chapters (ex: "Write a Valentine's Day chapter!" or "Tony and Pepper should go to the beach!") that would be great! I'm always looking for inspiration; just include your ideas in a review. Another A/N at the end of this chapter discusses my thoughts when writing this chapter. And before I forget… FLUFF WARNING!_

**3: Dancing**

The car pulled up to the St. Claire's entrance: a set of carpeted stairs, swamped with paparazzi and leading to a set of glass doors, each marked with an embellished gold _SC_.

As the magnitude of her current situation loomed over her head, Pepper panicked. She shielded her face from the cameras just outside the window and drew her lips into a thin, worried line.

"I can't do this."

Tony, leaning back casually with one arm slung over her shoulder, addressed his nervous date.

"'Course you can," he assured her. "You deal with paparazzi all the time."

"Yes, but they've never been focused on _me_!" She tucked a stray strand of amber hair behind her ear. "I'm not like you, Tony. I don't have billions of dollars, genius intellect, and a weaponized suit of armor to protect me from the things I'm scared of! Do you even _have_ any fears?"

Tony shrugged. "Sure. But you know what the trick is with these people?" He gestured to the paparazzi, who were currently distracted as another wealthy benefactor entered the hotel with his expensively dressed mistress.

"What?"

"Have you ever sat outside and watched fireworks?"

Pepper scrunched up her nose in confusion, which she knew Tony found adorable. "Yeah…"

Tony pointed to the bright camera flashes, leaning over Pepper's shoulder and speaking into her ear. "Just imagine the camera flashes are fireworks; don't look straight at them. And the reporters are mosquitoes; wave your hand like this, like you're swatting away bugs in slow motion." Tony demonstrated this wave to her. "Pause a moment, right before you hit the steps. Smile like it's the Fourth of July. And then, just… walk right up to the door. Easy."

Pepper bit her lip. If she were less freaked out, she would have admired the way Tony was handling this; forcing her to imagine a calmer situation was perfect for Pepper's very visual way of thinking. If she focused, she could almost replace the ground with a soft bed of grass and the carpet with a red-and-white checkered picnic blanket.

"Alright," she finally said, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She turned to Tony and jabbed her finger at him. "But just know, I'm doing this for _you_. You owe me one."

"How about this: While we're in London, I'll take you on a picnic at Hyde Park. Lemonade and sandwiches and everything."

Pepper scrutinized him a moment. "You have a deal." She smiled despite her nerves. "Now let's get this over with."

Tony, playing the part of a gentleman, stepped out first, crossing to Pepper's side and opening her door. He extended a hand to her, which she took. She was shaking slightly, and Tony probably noticed, because he gave her fingers a quick squeeze before placing a hand at the small of her back to guide her forward.

Her ensemble was nothing special. Tony had insisted they go dress shopping after his afternoon meeting with the board of directors, and they'd compromised on a simple black dress that Pepper felt wasn't too lavish and Tony felt showed enough of her legs for him to look at her and think dirty thoughts all evening.

Tony had also surprised Pepper with a pair of small diamond stud earrings. "For my now-official girlfriend," he'd said before making her put them on right away.

All this had culminated in Pepper's breath being taken away when, before they'd gotten into the car that evening, Tony had come up behind her and slipped something around her neck. It was a stunning diamond necklace, and Pepper had almost cried when she'd learned where he'd gotten it.

"Tony! You bought me _more_ diamonds? You know I don't want—"

"I didn't buy them," he had said with a sincere smile that reached his dark eyes. "They were my mother's. And I want you to have them."

Now, faced with flashing cameras and shouting reporters, Pepper's hand automatically drifted up to touch the diamonds, reminding her that no matter what the tabloids said tomorrow, there was someone in her life in her life who thought she was perfect.

One high-heeled foot in front of another, Pepper shakily approached the doors, stopping before the stairs, as Tony had instructed. To her tremendous shock, as she smiled for the photographers, Tony brought his hand up to her neck and pressed their lips together for a short, sweet kiss.

Pepper was left gazing horrified into Tony's eyes when the moment ended. "Tony!" she hissed as the sound of cameras clicking intensified.

Tony gave a lopsided smile. "Just go with it."

This seemed to be the theme of the night, as Pepper mingled with faces she was supposed to remember, enduring the culture shock that resulted from being thrust into the social spotlight after lingering in the background for so many years.

The ballroom area was a sea of designer gowns and rabbit furs, old men who knew the ropes of society and could get through the evening with their eyes closed, and young men who attacked the night with vigor in an attempt to leave as big an impression on as many people as they could before the night was through.

There were those who could claim a few drops of blue blood. There were those who could claim that money grew on their family tree. The air hung thick with perfume and pretentiousness.

Occasionally a breath of fresh air came in the form of a truly sincere remark. "I admire your work," the younger ones said to Tony, and followed up with engaging questions regarding matters Pepper didn't understand, usually related to engineering and mechanics.

"I remember your father," said some of the older men and women. This was a common thing for Tony to hear at any gathering of the elite. Pepper knew by now how to judge between the typical, empty, and frankly naïve "He was a good man" and the far more accurate (and sincere) "His business sense was impeccable" or "One of the greatest minds I've ever known."

Howard Stark, Pepper knew from Tony's drunken ramblings on the anniversaries of his parents' deaths, was only one of many men whose contributions were lauded yet whose character flaws were only heard of in whispered rumors. After death, every man worth his spit is a "great man." It takes someone as blunt as Tony Stark to look back on a dead person and say, "Yeah, he was a jerk."

Pepper's initial disregard for the event and those in attendance began to thaw as the night stretched on. Several glasses of champagne into the evening, Pepper was starting to feel a little less like a fish out of water and more like, perhaps, a saltwater fish in a freshwater pond. Fewer and fewer people approached her and Tony, and just as she was about to suggest they head home, Tony swept her into his arms and said, "Let's dance."

Light-headed and out of practice, Pepper stumbled a little as Tony guided her onto the dance floor. Soon, however, she was leaning her head on his shoulder and letting her eyes drift shut as they floated across the ballroom in the light of the crystal chandeliers.

She was reminded of the first time they danced, before Iron Man, before "This" began. Before worries and smiles and the edge of her seat watching the live news feed, before caresses and rare lonely nights and _TonyTonyTony_.

Lulled by the rhythm of the movement and feeling rather weak-kneed, Pepper whispered in Tony's ear, "I think I might fall asleep on you."

It was a testament to the purity of the moment that Tony didn't make a suggestive remark about who fell asleep on whom and how frequently. Instead, he drew back from her, tilted her chin up to meet her sleepy eyes, and planted a soft kiss on her slightly parted lips.

"Let's get you home, Virginia."

He kept his arm around her as she walked dazedly to the car, which was waiting for them by the time they stepped out into the chilly night air. Tony settled into the backseat and draped his jacket over Pepper's shoulders. He drew her into his arms. She settled into his chest and fell asleep that way.

. . .

_A/N: I wrote this really late at night, and I get weirdly philosophical when I'm tired. I tried to edit my strangeness out but some may have leaked through… However, I tried to root my sentiments regarding the upper class and "great men" in reality._

_I myself live in an affluent area, and I experience firsthand the effects of being given everything on a silver platter. Not to say all rich people are snobs, but all stereotypes have a reason for existing, and some are truer than others._

_As for the "great men" paragraph regarding Howard Stark, I drew from what I know. Just about everyone who becomes accomplished in their field has major character flaws, because, guess what, so does everyone else on earth. I won't say which "great mind" I generally use as inspiration for Howard Stark, but know that I do try to write what I know._

_And before anyone asks, yes, I absolutely got the rich-billionaire's-mother's-necklace from _The Dark Knight Rises_. Don't judge._

_Anyways, hope you enjoyed the abundant fluff and sweetness of this chapter!_

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	4. Responsibility

_A/N: Takes place the day after chapter 3. I know it's short… Just a little snippet of Responsible Tony, now that we've seen Apologetic Tony, Sleepy Tony, and Sweet Tony. Who knows which side of Tony is next? (I do.)_

**4: Responsibility**

Pepper woke up rumpled and still in her dress, with no real recollection of how she'd made it from the charity benefit to bed. Vaguely she recalled drifting off in the car, and figured Tony must have carried her inside.

The digital clock beside Tony's bed read 9:14; she'd overslept a full two hours. Tony was absent from the bed, the outline of his body still indented in the sheets, and the tantalizing scent of French toast wafted in through the open door from the adjacent kitchen.

Continuing in her sleepy awe of Tony's display of sensitivity and care, Pepper took note that he'd removed her shoes and placed them neatly against the wall. The diamond necklace was dangling across the jewelry box on her armoire across the room; he'd even taken off her earrings and unpinned her hair.

After lying dazed in bed for far too long, Pepper forced herself to stand, change out of her dress, and throw on one of Tony's shirts and her slippers to shuffle out into the kitchen.

Tony was carefully concocting Pepper's sort-of-coffee when she emerged. He shot her a brief smile before spilling the scalding liquid onto his bare chest and cursing loudly and profusely.

"Tell you what; let's just stop by Starbucks when we leave."

Pepper covered her mouth to yawn and nodded complacently. "You made breakfast," she observed dimly, biting into one of her two slices of French toast.

"I tried," Tony said with a grin and a shrug. "It's not chocolate chip pancakes, but at least I didn't burn anything."

"It's delicious." Pepper smiled encouragingly. Suddenly… "Oh shoot!" She sprang to her feet. "I haven't packed!"

"Calm down. I took care of it while you were sleeping. You left your packing list on the nightstand." Tony gestured to her polka-dotted suitcase sitting next to his utilitarian black one. "I even remembered to pack an umbrella. Because, you know. Europe. And before you ask, I reaffirmed our hotel reservations and I've even found a location of that Cath Kidston store you love; we can swing by and get you a new purse." He pecked Pepper on the cheek. "I thought of _everything_."

Pepper scrunched up her nose and went through her mental list. Tony must've forgotten _something_. Tony _always_ forgot _something_. But… "Wow. I guess you did."

Tony grinned triumphantly and playfully shoved her towards the bedroom. "Go on, then, get dressed and ready. Don't forget, we're going on that picnic I promised you tomorrow."

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	5. Tequila

_A/N: Apologies for the delay. For the past week and a half (since the last Thursday of August) I've been in recovery from surgery. At first I was not in too much pain (on a lot of pain-relieving drugs) so I was up for writing. However, these past few days I have had to attend classes despite some pain and swelling (don't want my grades to suffer so early in the school year!) and just wasn't feeling like writing much. But now I'm back!_

_So enjoy this chapter. Takes place post-Avengers, of course. And if you don't already know that Bruce Banner is the Hulk, then there is something wrong with you and you need to reexamine your life. And Steve Rogers is Captain America, Clint Barton is Hawkeye, Natasha Romanoff is Black Widow, and Thor… is just Thor. From now on I'm just going to assume you all know this._

_By the way, been reading Big Bang Theory fanfiction a lot lately (I had to run a document search to make sure I didn't type "Penny" instead of "Pepper" anywhere in this chapter) so the transition is messing with my head. By the way, this chapter is a little racy. Nothing above a T rating, though._

**5: Tequila**

The sound of machinery emanating from the R&D department had driven Pepper out of Stark Tower one afternoon. Returning with her arms laden with shopping bags and a much better outlook on life, she almost didn't care that Tony's latest project seemed to be taking up nearly all his time.

She supposed it wasn't all that bad. She'd seen Tony go through these phases where he hardly left his workroom, only coming out when she forced him to, and all the while looking filthy and smelling like a furnace. She'd dealt with this in stride as his personal assistant. But as his girlfriend… well, didn't she deserve a bit more attention?

_I guess I'll just have to distract him, then, _she resolved, dumping her shopping bags in the master bedroom and sliding open the bottom drawer of her armoire. She fished out her sexiest lingerie: red, Tony's favorite color, and lacy. She then dressed casually but provocatively, in tight, dark jeans and a fitted white tank.

Stacking the odds in her favor, Pepper poured two drinks to bring with her, one for her and one for Tony, because if she was going to lure Tony out of his own personal candyland, she would need both alcohol _and_ sex appeal.

She pressed the elevator button and descended one floor.

Tony was, as Pepper had expected, in his private workroom on the second-highest floor of Stark Tower. What Pepper did not expect to see was that Tony was not working alone.

"Bruce!" Pepper couldn't help if her voice sounded somewhat deflated. She approached the geniuses and prematurely resigned herself to the fact that there was no way she could distract Tony if Bruce was here. She could pole-dance in front of them and it wouldn't make a difference to the two brilliant minds, infatuated with their technology. "I didn't know you were here. I would have stopped to say hello."

"All the more reason for me to show up unannounced," Bruce Banner said, not taking his eyes off the screens in front of him and Tony.

Pepper scowled. She didn't much like Bruce, despite everything Tony had told her about him. "He's a jerk," she'd said one day. Tony had simply shrugged.

"He's blunt and honest, but how is that any different from me?" Tony had replied.

"Well, you're a jerk too," Pepper had agreed, "But you pay me to put up with you. And you're good in bed."

"So that's why you keep me around, huh?" Tony had waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Well I'm sure Bruce is up to par when it comes to that sort of thing. Then again, imagine what would happen if he lost his temper and Hulked up halfway through—"

"You have a sick mind, Tony."

Ever since the reparations of Stark Tower had been completed, Tony had been inviting his fellow genius over practically every week to play around with new ideas and develop a few of the more promising ones. Pepper was not pleased by this arrangement.

"Why can't we have Steve over?" Pepper muttered, leaning forward to whisper into Tony's ear. "He's nice and handsome."

Tony rolled his eyes. "You're trying to make me jealous, but it won't work. I don't feel threatened by a man who dresses up like an American flag."

"As opposed to a man who dresses up like a red-and-gold Stormtrooper?"

Tony was about to retort when he finally looked up from his 3-dimensional holographic model of whatever-the-hell he and Bruce were working on now. His eyes widened slightly as they raked her body, taking in her clothes that left very little to the imagination. He let out a low whistle. "Speaking of the way people dress, you are looking…" He paused as he seemed to struggle to find the right word, but he was probably just adding dramatic emphasis. "…_Fantastic_."

Pepper pursed her lips in annoyance. Yes, she _knew_ she looked fantastic; she'd put a lot of _effort_ into looking fantastic but now _Bruce_ was here and he was _ruining _it.

"Well tough luck, Tin Man, you're not getting any when we've got a _guest_ over." She crossed her arms over her chest (which Tony was staring openly at) and let out an audible huff.

"What do you want me to do?" Tony asked. "I can't just throw him out; that would be _rude_."

"Oh, since when do you care about being polite?" Pepper snapped. "As for what I want, well, I would like to not have to march in here waving my arms and yelling, 'Stop ignoring me!' every single day!"

Tony feigned indignation. "What a slanderous statement! I do not ignore you!"

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "I could have walked in here and started stripping and you wouldn't have noticed."

"I dare you to try it."

Pepper nearly jumped at the sound of Bruce's voice. He didn't even loop up from the equation he was working through when he spoke. Pepper almost wasn't sure if she'd heard him correctly.

"I'm sorry, did you just…?" She turned to Tony. "Was that a joke?" She paused. "Did I miss something?" Had Bruce Banner – the blunt, matter-of-fact Bruce Banner – just… made a joke?

"I dunno, I'm sure part of him actually wants you to take your clothes off," Tony said with a teasing smirk. "After all, he's only human. Half the time, anyway."

"You have such a bizarre way of giving compliments," Pepper said, scrunching up her nose. "But seriously, since when does he," she pointed her finger unceremoniously at Bruce, completely ignoring the social custom that dictates you not blatantly discuss other people when they are sitting right in front of you, "Have a sense of humor?"

Tony grinned, abruptly standing and dusting off his hands. "I get the feeling it's high time you two got a little bonding time." Bruce looked up, obviously just as alarmed as Pepper was at this. "My girlfriend and my sole intellectual equal… This'll be fun!"

Pepper gaped. The attention span of a fruit fly, indeed. But at least she was getting Tony out of his blasted workroom. She cast a wary eye at Bruce, still not entirely convinced that he wasn't a stiff, stuck-up stick in the mud.

. . .

_Three hours and eight bottles of assorted liquor later…_

"You didn't!" Pepper gasped at Bruce's shocking and hilarious tale, spilling tequila as she drunkenly poured herself another shot.

Bruce grinned, leaning back in his seat and taking another swig of rum. "Needless to say I haven't returned to San Francisco since then."

Pepper laughed so hard she snorted, and immediately blushed and covered her mouth. Tony was grinning widely. "That was cute. You should laugh like that more often."

"Oh, shut up!" She leaned forward to slap his arm but missed and fell forward. He grabbed her wrist and tugged her closer, planting a somewhat sloppy kiss on her lips. She giggled and pushed him away. "Tony, we have company!"

"Bruce doesn't mind…" Tony said, leaning in again, only to be thwarted by Pepper scooting farther away on the sofa. He pouted.

"Tony's been undressing you with his eyes all evening; I can practically _see_ him envisioning all the dirty things he's going to do to you once I leave," Bruce said with a shrug. He then turned to Tony. "But do try to wait until _after_ I leave."

"I can't make any promises," Tony said, slinging an arm around Pepper's shoulders. She blushed and poured another shot.

"I must say, Potts," Bruce said conversationally, "I didn't expect you to be so… laid back. From the way Tony goes on about you, I figured you would tell me off for having my shirttail untucked."

"_Me_?" Pepper exclaimed. "What about _you_? Who knew you had a sense of humor!"

"Just because one of my personalities is one of the world's leading scientific minds and the other is one of the world's leading causes of mass mayhem doesn't mean I'm never any fun," Bruce replied.

" 'Instant fun: Just add alcohol,' " Tony joked, brandishing his bottle of scotch. Pepper snorted again.

"Okay, okay, seriously," she said. She stood up, teetering a little, and rounded up the bottles of various intoxicating substances. "That's enough for one night." She snatched the scotch straight out of Tony's hand.

"But you can never have too much of a good thing!" Tony protested.

"Alcohol is _bad_ for you," Pepper reminded him as she lined up the bottles on the bar counter and walked back over to the couches.

"You didn't seem to think so when I brought out that bottle of El Tosoro earlier this evening."

Pepper scowled. "Not fair; you know all my weaknesses."

Bruce stood. "I'm just going to excuse myself before this banter goes anywhere serious."

At this, Pepper turned and smiled sincerely. "This was nice," she said to Bruce as he stood at the elevator doors. "We should do it again sometime."

"We can exchange notes about Tony," Bruce joked as he stepped into the elevator.

"Hey!" the aforementioned billionaire said, sounding affronted. Pepper silenced his protests with a hand on his arm as the elevator doors shut and the two of them were left alone.

The moment Bruce was gone, Tony snatched Pepper's wrist and dragged her over to the bedroom, grinning lecherously. She laughed, snorting again, and reciprocated his kisses.

"Eager, are we?" she teased. Tony looked at her seriously, with something akin to starvation.

"I have been _aching_ to tear these clothes off you _all night_," he said, running his hands down her sides and sending chills up her spine.

Pepper ran her fingers along the collar of his shirt, planting a kiss on his collarbone and then dragging her lips up his neck until they met his. "What are you waiting for?" she whispered.

He hardly needed telling twice. Pepper had never been undressed so fast in her life. An when Tony saw what she was wearing underneath…

"You somehow planned this night would end like this," he said. She could tell he was pleased, and she grinned.

"I was hoping to distract you from your work with my feminine wiles," she said, unbuttoning his shirt. "Plan B was to straight-up take my clothes off."

Tony moaned and nestled his head into her neck, biting at the skin there. "Why wasn't that Plan A?"

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	6. Confetti

_A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've been busy and sick. From now on, expect chapter updates to occur once a week, or every other week if I'm particularly busy. This chapter takes place before the events of the Iron Man movies, so Tony and Pepper aren't a couple yet. Anyways, hope you enjoy all the unresolved sexual tension I managed to squeeze into this chapter. I personally think it's kind of fun. Let me know your thoughts and reactions._

**6: Confetti**

_11:59PM_

Tony's head was feeling fuzzy. He couldn't remember how much he'd drank…. He looked down at the champagne glass in his hand. Empty. Wondered if he should refill it, took note of Pepper's hand gripping his arm in anxious anticipation, her glittering eyes fixed on the plasma television screen mounted on the wall, her amber hair falling out of its bun. No, he wanted to be sober enough to remember this.

The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Dozens of partygoers gazed at the screen in fixation, eyes wide and expectant.

Then, with the rare kind of enthusiasm reserved for such occasions, a hundred voices raised together in a countdown.

. . .

_Earlier that evening, 10:30PM_

As was the New Year's tradition for Tony, his house was teeming with a hundred-odd people he barely knew, drinking and dancing and waiting for the moment of celebration – the stroke of midnight – which would be the culmination of the evening's events.

Amid the sea of strangers, there was one very familiar face: Pepper. The only guest Tony _really_ cared about seeing. Everyone else was just there to stroke his ego and drink his alcohol.

The moment Tony stepped out into the open, he was greeted enthusiastically by anyone who laid eyes on him. He locked the door to his workroom, from which he had emerged – he didn't want anyone stumbling down there drunk and messing with his equipment – and greeted the masses with a genuine, enthusiastic smile.

He loved New Year's.

The few smiling faces he could attach names to, Tony greeted. "Missy! George! So glad you came! Reilley, it's been forever! Hanna and Haley, my favorite twins!" Et cetera. All the while he was scanning the crowd for that telltale head of ginger hair.

After passing under the plasma television mounted to the wall that was displaying the New Year's celebrations in New York, Tony spotted his personal assistant and made a beeline for her, dodging scantily-clad women (but sparing them each a low, appreciative whistle and a flirtatious wink). Finally, he spotted Pepper, standing over where the crowd was significantly sparser, away from the bar. She had her arms crossed over her chest, looking uncomfortable and out of place as her eyes darted about the room, no doubt searching for (a) Tony, or (b) a way out.

Grinning at his personal assistant's behavior, Tony reached forward and grabbed Pepper's elbow. She jumped slightly before turning, realizing who it was, and grinning with her perfect white teeth.

"Tony!" Pepper visibly eased up a little, but still seemed pretty tense. "What took you so long to get up here? Stage fright?"

Tony chuckled, taking Pepper's taunts in stride. She knew very well that Tony had been down in his workroom, working on the development of Stark Industries' latest pièce de résistance, the tentatively-named Jericho Missile. He'd never had stage fright in his life, had always been a natural extrovert and thus perfectly comfortable in social situations.

"Yes, I get terrible in front of crowds, which is why I invited everyone I know plus a hundred total strangers to my house for a party," he said sarcastically, not missing a beat. Pepper shrugged a shoulder and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her smile tight.

While Pepper was taking obvious care not to look nervous, Tony took the opportunity to appraise her. She was dressed much more casually than most of the women here, wearing a fitted black tee and dark-wash jeans that clung to her thighs and – Tony raised his eyebrows in appreciation – her butt.

Trying his utmost to keep his eyes on Pepper's face, Tony subtly ran his tongue across his upper lip, careful not to reveal how attracted he was to Pepper right now. Fortunately, Pepper was too tightly wound to notice that her billionaire employer was undressing her with his eyes.

Tony cleared his throat, refocusing his energies towards making casual conversation. "You don't look like you're having very much fun," he observed. Pepper leveled him with a glare.

"You know how much I hate parties," she said. "And crowds."

"And fun, yes, I know," Tony said, teasing. Pepper's glare intensified.

"I do not hate fun!" she protested. "I'll have you know, before I devoted my entire life to babysitting you and cleaning up after your messes, I had a very active social life!"

"Uh-huh," Tony said skeptically. "Have you ever been to Vegas?"

"I have!" Pepper said proudly. "As a matter of fact, I take _you_ there all the time."

"That doesn't count; you spend the entire time in your hotel room. And the spa," he added before Pepper could protest. "But that's relaxation, not fun. What I meant was, have you ever been to Vegas on a vacation, while you weren't working and managing my schedule and worrying about my well-being?"

"Well… no. But I—"

"Have you ever even gambled?"

"No, but—"

"Ever gone clubbing?"

"Not willingly, no…"

Tony sighed, massaged his forehead in an attempt to convey his utter disappointment. "Have you ever driven a sports car?"

"Well there was that one time you forced me to…"

"So I return to original argument," Tony said. "You hate fun."

"Excuse me!" Pepper protested. "Just because I don't have billions of dollars to waste on trips to Vegas, gambling, getting drunk, or collecting sports cars, doesn't mean I can't have fun! Before I met _you_, when I had actual _friends_ and a _social life_, I went out every weekend and had tons of fun!"

"Doing what?"

"I dunno, bowling, movies, _Friends_ marathons, weekend trips to Disneyland! We even pooled our rainy-day money and went to Disney _World_ once! In _Florida_!"

Tony paused. "I've never been to Disneyland. Or Disney World."

Pepper gaped. "You… WHAT." She practically shoved Tony. "You've never been to _Disney World_ and you think you have the right to tell _me_ I hate fun?!" She threw up her hands. "That's it; for your birthday, we're going to Disney World."

"Only if you promise to _try_ to have fun tonight," Tony said, a little surprised at this turn of events. One minute Pepper was rigid and uncomfortable, the next, they were going to Disney World.

"But I _hate_ crowds… all these people who make more money in a day than I make in a year, wearing clothes I'd have to sell my car to pay for… I can practically _feel_ them judging me! 'There's Tony Stark's personal assistant; she must be sleeping with him or something to get invited to a party like this.' "

Tony shook his head. "These people are pre-programmed to judge. Don't take it personally. They judge _me_."

Pepper snorted. "Oh, Tony, it's not that hard to judge you."

Tony mock-glared. "I resent that."

"Like hell you do."

. . .

_11:06PM_

"I've always wanted to do fireworks on New Year's," Pepper was saying as she and Tony reclined side-by-side on the sofa, sipping from martinis and occasionally glancing up at the television to check on the progress of the New Year's celebrations. "You know, like at midnight?" She smiled reminiscently. "I love fireworks. Fourth of July was my favorite holiday as a kid."

"Well, next year, Pepper, I'll arrange a spectacular New Year's fireworks show, just for you," Tony said, putting his arm around her shoulder. He added in a low voice, "And maybe we can have some fireworks of our own?"

Pepper rolled her eyes and shrugged his arm off of her. "If you didn't pay me so well, I'd sue you for sexual harassment. Sometimes I think I should."

Tony pouted, but his moment of self-pity barely lasted a nanosecond before some famous singer appeared on the television screen and Pepper shrieked, in a very un-Pepper-ish way, "I love this song!" She grabbed Tony's arm and dragged him to his feet. "Come on, let's dance!"

Allowing Pepper to drag him into the crowd, Tony lost himself in the swishing of her hair and the twisting of her hips.

. . .

_Back to the present, 11:59PM_

In hindsight, Tony knew it must have happened gradually, but at the time it seemed to come over him all at once. Somewhere in the midst of the martinis they'd drank and the songs they'd danced to, Tony had realized it and been struck with the gravity of the situation.

Her fingernails dug into his skin, the soft glow of the television reflected in her wide eyes, and her teeth had sunk into her bottom lip in anticipation. The anxiety slowly gave way to enthusiasm as her voice joined the others in the room, her face breaking into a wide, gleaming grin.

"Ten…"

Tony took note of his elevated heart rate, the warm feeling in his chest that settled in whenever Pepper was near.

"Nine…"

He'd never felt like this before. He'd felt lust, attraction, arousal, but this… was something else entirely.

"Eight…"

Maybe it was the alcohol. They were both pretty drunk, right? And it was late. Not to mention ever since he'd begun work on the Jericho missile, Tony hadn't been getting a lot of sleep.

"Seven…"

But he'd been drunk many, _many_ times before. He knew what it felt like to be drunk, and to be tired, and this… _feeling_ in his chest wasn't either of those things.

"Six…"

And his stomach felt all fluttery. Looking at Pepper made it worse. "Butterflies in your stomach," he'd heard the expression before, he knew it referred either to stage fright or to… to…

"Five…"

Oh crap. Oh-kay, _no_. Tony Stark wasn't… he didn't… _No_. And… with _Pepper_? His personal assistant, who was admittedly attractive, he'd give her that, but she was also insufferable! _Annoying_, even! He couldn't possibly be…

"Four…"

Could he?

"Three…"

He wanted to hold her tight and run his fingers through that gorgeous hair and kiss her slowly and watch her face light up underneath a sky full of fireworks; he wanted to give her flowers and chocolate and do all manner of cliché, ridiculous things for her that he'd never felt any desire to do before.

"Two…"

And this, this was how he realized that he was in trouble. Because now he knew how he felt, and he knew Pepper was _never_ going to feel the same way about him, but somehow it didn't matter and he wanted the smile on her face to stay there forever and… and…

"One…"

_I'm in love. I'm in love with Pepper Potts._

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

It happened so fast; Pepper shrieked and threw her hands in the air and did a little twirly celebratory dance amid the confetti and streamers and screaming and general merriment, and Tony was still shell-shocked from his realization, and then she grabbed his shoulders and her arms wrapped around his neck and she pressed his lips to hers and they were kissing deeply and passionately. His hands hovered at her sides for a moment before taking hold of her waist and pressing her against him and feeling like an awkward teenager experiencing his first kiss, which was a feeling he hadn't ever experienced, even when he _was_ an awkward teenager experiencing his first kiss.

Pepper made a little noise of disappointment when Tony pulled away and he almost closed the distance between them to kiss her again, but thought better of it. But he couldn't bring himself to let her go.

He knew she was drunk, and he was drunk, and she was going to regret this tomorrow when she woke up with a massive hangover and the knowledge that she'd just made out with her boss in front of a hundred influential people, _her_ boss, the infamous womanizer Tony Stark, who bedded a different woman every night. Tony knew all this, but he couldn't bring himself to care, and when the song _Auld Lang Syne_ started playing and her arms were still wrapped around his neck, he started swaying back and forth in a slow and simple dance, savoring the feeling of being close to her because he knew it very well might be the last time.

He imagined what would happen in the morning. Would she yell at him? Would she resign? Would he wake up and expect her to be in her office, only to find it empty, her things packed up and gone?

Maybe he was worrying over nothing. Maybe things would be different between them now, in a good way. He didn't necessarily have to assume that this was going to be something Pepper regretted.

Deciding to let himself believe the latter, just for the night, Tony closed his eyes and held Pepper close and reverted back to his usual state of not worrying.

. . .

_The next day, 11:19AM_

"Nngh." Tony had a massive hangover. His head was throbbing and even the light of the sun outside his window made him want to claw his eyes out. But he forced himself to his feet, because according to his clock it was almost lunchtime, and to miss one meal was no big deal, but to miss _two_ meals in _one _day, well that was just unacceptable.

As he trudged out of his room to make coffee, the events of the previous night came washing over Tony in a slow, lethargic wave. The New Year's Party. Pepper. Pepper in her sexy outfit. Pepper dancing with him. Pepper _kissing_ him.

He cursed, forgetting the coffee and making a beeline for Pepper's office, expecting to find it empty, perhaps with a well-worded note describing Pepper's reasons for leaving, but instead finding…

Pepper at her desk, typing at her laptop, looking completely composed and normal and not at all like someone with a hangover who had just made out with their boss.

Confused, Tony rapped on the transparent door with his knuckles. Pepper looked up, and he saw that her lips were moving – she was talking to someone on her Bluetooth. She beckoned for Tony to come in.

He did, and seated herself across from her, groaning and massaging his forehead while Pepper wrapped up her conversation.

"Yes… Yes, he will be there… Yes, I'll personally make sure of it… Of course… Of course, I understand… Well, we wouldn't want that… No, I know… Alright… Alright, that's… Yes… Okay, goodbye." Pepper hung up and looked at Tony expectantly, a placid smile on her face. "Yes?"

Tony quirked an eyebrow. "Pepper, you're acting… surprisingly normal today," he said carefully, not sure what to expect. Was she in denial? Had the whole thing been a dream?

"Well, what were you expecting?"

"I…" _I was expecting you to be gone. Or maybe to slap me. Or sue for sexual harassment._

Realization dawned on Pepper's face. "I think I know what this is about."

"You do?" _You certainly should. I don't see how you could forget something like—_

"Tony, honestly, we went over this yesterday," she said. "I _know_ how to have fun. And while my definition of 'fun,' unlike yours, does not always entail getting drunk and partying, I'm always up for some drinking and dancing on a special occasion. But don't expect me to be like that all the time," she added, her voice acquiring a warning tone to it. "_Only_ on special occasions." She paused. "And we're still going to Disney World for your birthday."

Having given her speech, Pepper returned her attention to the computer screen. Tony stared at her for a moment, no less confused than he initially was. So she obviously remembered last night; why wasn't she bringing up the kiss? It didn't sound like she was purposefully skirting around the topic.

"So you're saying… everything stays the same? In our _professional _relationship? Except on special occasions, when you'll agree to let loose and have some fun?"

"Exactly," Pepper said, smiling a little.

"And you don't have _anything_ else to say about last night?"

At this, Pepper turned a little pink. _Ah, here it comes_. "Well, to be honest, Tony…" She paused, and Tony prompted her to go on with his eyes. "My memory of last night… it's a little fuzzy." She laughed lightly. "I don't even remember the ball dropping! I guess I had a few too many martinis." She directed an accusatory finger at him. "I blame _you_ for letting me drink so much."

Realization dawned on Tony. So _that's_ why she was acting as if the kiss hadn't happened. She'd gotten so drunk she didn't remember it. Well, they hadn't had all that much to drink, if he remembered correctly, but then again, Tony didn't know how often Pepper drank, and what she got like when drunk. She didn't seem to have a hangover, so maybe memory loss was what she got instead of Tony's pounding headaches.

Part of Tony was relieved that Pepper didn't remember the kiss; it had been a heat-of-the-moment thing that she probably would regret. But another part of him – the part that had realized that night that he was in love with her – was disappointed. Their relationship was exactly where it was before.

Nothing had changed.

"Oh," he said, trying not to sound disappointed. He then recovered, pasting on a cocky grin and leaning over her desk, messing up her papers. "Well, try not to be such a stick-in-the-mud so often, Pep," he said, knowing she _hated_ when he called her Pep.

"Not likely," Pepper said, rolling her eyes. "Now get out, go make yourself something to eat. I have work to do."

Simultaneously pleased and disappointed, Tony sauntered out of the office.

. . .

Pepper waited a moment, typing at her computer, before checking to make sure Tony was gone and turning her swivel chair to face the wall. She buried her face in her hands, feeling her cheeks go red.

She didn't like lying. But to have to deal with the fact that she'd kissed her boss, that she'd kissed _Tony_, and that she'd _liked_ it…

She sighed. "Tony…"

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: So, first kiss? Thoughts? Reactions? And Tony realizing he's in love with Pepper… What did you think? Did I write it right? Was I completely wrong? What did you think of Pepper's method of coping? I want to know what you have to say! Leave a review, tell me I'm a loser, let me know what you hope to see in the future. Are you excited for Tony and Pepper to go to Disney World? I sure as hell am! Leave a review!_


	7. Vacation

_A/N: Holy crap, two chapters in the same day. Here's the Disney chapter; you didn't even have to wait! Well, the first Disney chapter (there will be a few). Takes place _after_ IM, IM2, and Avengers, because of reasons that will be explained in the chapter. Anyways, I couldn't resist sending Tony and Pepper to Disney World, because I just absolutely love it there and have been a million times (basically all my family's vacation budget goes towards Disney trips), so I'm kind of an expert. And Penny takes Sheldon to Disneyland (Big Bang Theory, don't worry about it if you have no idea what I'm talking about), so Pepper can take Tony to Disney World, dammit. Don't judge._

**7: Vacation**

Tony awakes to someone shaking his shoulder. He moans incoherently, because, as Pepper would say, Tony Stark is an absolute zombie in the mornings, and forces his eyes open.

Pepper is standing next to the bed, wearing one of his shirts (he loves it when she does that) and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet like a hyperactive six-year-old, ponytail bobbing up and down. Tony rubs his eyes blearily and struggles into a sitting position, because the idea of Pepper being so excited about something is intriguing and brings a number of possible (mostly kinky) scenarios running through his head.

"What's got you hopping up and down like a bunny?" he asks, surprised that he's able to form a coherent sentence so soon after waking up. It usually takes a while for his brain to start up.

"Do you remember New Year's Eve a few years ago?" Pepper asked, her voice practically vibrating with excitement. Tony strains to remember what she's talking about, and it takes him a minute, because, again, it takes him a while to start functioning at full capacity before he's had coffee.

"You mean when I held the party on the roof and ended it with a fireworks show?" he asked, because it's the first New Year's-related experience that comes to mind. Pepper shakes her head, grinning madly.

"Nope," she says, popping the "p." "I'm talking about the year before."

Tony screwed up his face. "You're going to have to give me a hint."

Pepper tilted her head, ceased her bouncing, and sighed disappointedly. "Honestly, Tony," she says, shaking her head. "Our _first kiss_?"

"You mean the one you pretended you were too drunk to remember to avoid actually confronting the issue?"

Pepper glared. "You know what? Never mind. I _won't_ give you your surprise early birthday present."

Just as she turned briskly on her heel to saunter out of the bedroom, Tony grabbed her wrist and yanked her back, now even more excited than Pepper had been a moment ago. "Wait! I'm sorry. I'm a tactless idiot who doesn't deserve you now _what did you get me for my birthday?_" He realized he sounded like a greedy little kid. He didn't care.

Instead of giving him any further grief, Pepper once again broke out into a wide grin. She skipped around to her side of the bed and opened the top drawer of her nightstand, withdrawing a white envelope that she held behind her back. _Dammit, it's not a puppy, _Tony thought, pouting slightly. He'd been asking for a puppy for his birthday every year since he was three and still had yet to receive one.

"Like I was saying," Pepper said, returning to Tony's side and standing before her with his present still held out of sight, "That New Year's Eve when we kissed, you told me I didn't know how to have fun, I proved you wrong, and you confessed you'd never been to Disney World."

Tony's eyes widened, and he leaned forward anxiously.

"I know I said I'd take you to Disney World for your birthday that year," Pepper continued, "But you ended up getting yourself kidnapped and worrying me half to death and then you went and built yourself a metal _suit_ and fly around endangering your own life because you're a hopeless adrenaline junkie, and it kind of got left by the wayside.

"Then the _next_ year there was that whole debacle with the military and the government and you dying but not telling me, which I'm _still_ upset about by the way, so once again Disney World was forgotten.

"And I was finally all set to go the next year when, whaddaya know, the Freak Show gets together to fight some aliens—"

"We're the _Avengers_, not the 'Freak Show,' " Tony corrected.

"Oh, sweetie," Pepper said condescendingly, "You're a geeky mutant scientist with anger management issues, a Shakespearean alien with a god complex, an admittedly hunky guy who personally fought Hitler's partner-in-genocide, a former Russian criminal who redefines the phrase 'beat by a girl,' her modern-day Legolas boyfriend, and a red-and-gold glorified Tin Man. You're a Freak Show."

" 'Glorified Tin Man'?" Tony repeated. "I thought I 'dressed up like a Stormtrooper.' "

"You do. And I have plenty more snarky comments where those came from. Can I get back to my point?"

Tony paused. "Yeah, go ahead."

"Well, now that you've totally utterly ruined the moment," she held out the white envelope with a small dramatic flourish. "Open it."

He didn't need telling twice; Tony tore into the envelope with eagerness, even though it was pretty obvious what was inside. He reached in and withdrew…

Their special passes to get into all the Disney parks for a whole week.

Barely able to control himself, Tony leapt up, swept Pepper off her feet, twirled her around, and planted a thorough kiss on her lips. She was slightly flushed when they broke apart.

"I've made all our reservations," she proceeded to inform him. "We fly out next week – January is supposedly the best time to go – and we're staying at their best and most expensive resort, the Grand Floridian, which I've never even _seen_ the inside of, fortunately I'm dating a billionaire so we can spend as much money as we—"

Tony kissed her again, this time just to shut her up. He kept his hands on her waist as he spoke to her, grinning from ear to ear. "Pepper. We'll have five hours on a plane for you to tell me all the details. But for now, can you just pause for a second and let me be grateful? I haven't even had a chance to tell you you're the best girlfriend _ever_. And for your birthday – which I _promise_ I won't forget this year, and this time I mean it – I'm taking you somewhere equally fantastic. Paris, Italy, wherever. A Mediterranean cruise. But for now, just for once forget about the details, get in bed, and let me show you just how much I appreciate this."

Pepper rolled her eyes at Tony's thinly veiled efforts to get her in bed. But she complied anyways, because she _really_ liked the idea of a Mediterranean cruise.

. . .

"Tony, you're acting like a five-year-old."

It was true; Tony was bouncing up and down in the car that was taking them from the airport to the Grand Floridian, his face pressed against the window, grinning eagerly.

"It's my first trip to Disney World!" he exclaimed. "I'm allowed to act like a kid."

"Yeah, I'll give you that, but imagine how unnerving this is for me," Pepper said. "One minute you're bouncing up and down all hyped up to go on Space Mountain and the next you're telling me in great detail _exactly_ what you're going to do to me when we get to the hotel room."

"Think of it as my way of retaliating for all the times you've switched back and forth between no-nonsense personal assistant and cuddly girlfriend."

"I wouldn't have to do that if you were capable of motivating yourself to get to your meetings on time, keep your own schedule organized, keep track of your personal finances—"

"Alright, I get it, I _get _it." He sighed, and took Pepper's hand. "Pepper… _Virginia_," now Pepper knew he was serious, "We're on vacation. Let's have fun and forget about work. For one week, you're not going to be my PA. You'll just be my girlfriend."

Pepper couldn't repress her smile at how sweet that sounded. She was at a loss for words, when the car stopped in front of a large, expensive-looking building she had only ever seen from a distance. She pointed out her window and Tony followed her gaze. "Tony, welcome to the Grand Floridian." He gaped. Pepper was pleased; she had managed to stun eccentric billionaire Tony Stark. _Score one for Pepper._

"Pepper… it's… okay, make a note that I need to get myself a house that looks _just_ like this."

"You already have houses in LA, Seattle, Alexandria, _and_ Stark Tower. You do _not_ need another house." Pepper said this as Tony climbed out of the car and came around to open her door. She smiled at his gentlemanly gesture (even though he always opened her door for her, because she made him, because she liked to pretend she was dating someone with manners) and took the hand he offered her. His gaze was fixed on the resort, sizing it up. She could practically see him drawing up the architectural designs in his head.

"But Pepper," he whined as their driver took out their luggage from the trunk. Tony tipped the man generously and insisted on taking Pepper's suitcase (another example of the manners Pepper had imposed upon him). "Just think. We could build it in Europe. I don't have a house in Europe."

Pepper shot him a look that said "be serious." Meanwhile, the doors to the hotel opened and they walked inside.

Both of them took a moment to stand there, breathless and awestruck, admiring the high ceilings, the ornate chandeliers, the balconies, the overall feeling of being a king and queen in a palace… Unable to contain herself, Pepper ran into the lobby, flung out her arms, and twirled as if she owned the place. Dragging both suitcases as he tried to keep up, Tony came up behind her and kissed her, taking care not to get too caught up in the heat of the moment (there were children there, after all).

After their brief, PG-rated embrace, Tony left the bags with Pepper and checked in at the desk. Pepper waited before Tony returned with their room keys, looking at her with wide-eyed incredulity. "You booked us a Grand Suite? Pepper, I thought for sure you'd insist on being sensible and get us a regular room! You booked us a _Grand Suite_!"

"I don't know why you're acting so pleased," Pepper reasoned. "It's _your_ money."

They turned their luggage over to a bellhop and took the elevator up to their suite.

Pepper squealed – actually _squealed_, which was something she _never_ did – when she saw the room. It was _beautiful_.

"_Yes_, Tony!" she said, throwing her arms around his neck. "Oh my gosh, yes, you can _absolutely_ build a house in Europe _just_ like this one!"

"And we will make love in every room of it!"

Pepper laughed. "You better not be so horny tomorrow; we're going to a _children's_ amusement park," she warned.

"Are you kidding?" Tony said. "I'll be wearing mouse ears and eating Mickey-shaped ice cream bars like all the other five- and six-year-olds in Magic Kingdom."

"And complaining about how long the line for Space Mountain is, no doubt."

Tony hugged Pepper; actually _hugged_ her, didn't start making out with her or anything. He rested his head on her shoulder, squeezing her so tight she could barely breathe. "Pepper Potts, you are my best friend."

Somehow being Tony's best friend meant even more to Pepper than being his girlfriend. It might be strange, but it was true.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: So they don't actually go to any of the Disney parks, but this chapter was approaching 2,000 words so I figured I'd cut it off and make you wait! Aren't I evil? Anyways, Disney World is an exciting place, and so I hoped to capture this in the way Tony and Pepper react to it. Hopefully I succeeded. As for the Grand Floridian, I've never stayed there myself, because man is it _expensive_, but I sure do wish I could. I walked around inside once, because I enjoy torturing myself with things I'll never be able to afford, and it really does make you feel like you're in Buckingham Palace or something. Not that I've ever been in Buckingham Palace._

_As for the last few lines of the chapter, I don't know if this is just me, but I think it's so romantic when your lover / companion is also your best friend. That's really the way it should be, don't you think? And I hope to develop that aspect of Tony and Pepper's relationship, as well as the romantic aspect, which I _promise_ there will be more of. Cross my heart. For now, enjoy the magic of Disney. I know Tony and Pepper will._


	8. Childhood

_A/N: Something I forgot to mention last chapter; what Pepper says about Tony having houses in Seattle (Washington), Alexandria (Virginia), and Los Angeles (California) is canon. Also, I wish this was an Avengers fanfic, because can you imagine Thor in Disney World? Is it just me or would that be hilarious? Everything about the Disney parks and rides that is mentioned in this chapter is true as of the last time I went to Disney World, which was last February, so pretty recent. This chapter will be a lot of fluffy humor, not much hardcore romance going on._

**8: Childhood**

_Magic Kingdom_

True to his word, the first thing Tony made Pepper do when they arrived at Magic Kingdom was buy him mouse ears and a Mickey-shaped ice cream bar. Pepper got the feeling he was going to fit right in.

Immediately after making their purchases, Tony began satisfying his childlike need to look and point at _everything_. "Look, Pepper, those bushes are shaped like Mickey ears!" ("Yes, Tony, everything here is shaped like Mickey ears.") "Look, Pepper, I can see Cinderella's Castle from here!" ("Yes, Tony, we could see it from our hotel. It's pretty big.") "Look, Pepper, there's going to be a parade this afternoon!" ("Yes, Tony, there's a parade every day in Disney World.")

After growing thoroughly exasperated, Pepper finally managed to shut Tony up with a stern, "If you say, 'Look, Pepper!' one more time, I will personally find a cliff and push you off it."

However, her annoyance with Tony's childish behavior quickly faded away as they strolled down Main Street, USA towards Cinderella's Castle. She began providing Tony with any and all information she knew about the park (which wasn't much, granted, but he seemed to appreciate it anyway).

"This is Main Street, USA," she began. "I… don't know if there's some special story behind that name, but this is where most of the shops are. _That_, obviously, is Cinderella's Castle. There's apparently a room up there that celebrities sometimes stay in when they come here. I'm willing to bet it makes our hotel room look like a dump."

Tony got a thoughtful look on his face. Pepper silently cursed herself; Tony was probably wondering where he could build himself a castle like this one. _Billionaires…_

They turned left when they reached the castle (after Tony made Pepper stop in front of it so he could take a picture of her), entering the first themed area of Magic Kingdom, Adventureland.

"All we _really_ need to go on here is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, because that's a classic, and then we can—"

"_Is that a magic carpet ride_?" Tony asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"Oh gosh…"

Pepper instantly found herself being dragged towards an Aladdin-themed ride wherein they were spun in circles on a magic carpet. They were easily the oldest people on this particular ride. Tony didn't seem to care; as the ride started up, he broke into a loud and off-key chorus of _A Whole New World_.

"I can show you the world!"

"Oh, please, Tony…"

"Shining, shimmering, splendid—"

"Tony, you're making a scene."

"Tell me, Pepper, now when did you last let your heart decide?"

Pepper blushed slightly. Tony was looking straight into her eyes with that devious twinkle that meant he _knew_ just how much she hated this. And his revision of the lyrics did not go unnoticed.

"I can open your eyes," he spread his arms wide, "Take you wonder by wonder! Over, sideways, and under on a magic carpet ride! A whole new world! A new fantastic point of view! No one to tell us no or where to go or say we're only dreaming!"

Tony looked at Pepper expectantly, and she was having a hard time denying those big, dark eyes. Figuring she might as well give in, she sighed heavily and sang, at a much more reasonable volume, "A whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew, but when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear that now I'm in a whole new world with you."

"Now I'm in a whole new _world_ with _you_!" Tony harmonized, obviously overjoyed by Pepper's participation.

The ride ended almost exactly as Tony and Pepper sang the last line together, "For you and me." Pepper was laughing so hard she had to cling to her sides to keep from falling. Tony threw an arm around her shoulder, and winked at a little kid who was eyeing them as if they'd come from outer space.

After Pirates of the Caribbean, Tony and Pepper entered Frontierland.

"What do you think, should we go on Splash Mountain?" Pepper asked once she'd regained control of her breathing. "It's technically a water ride, but I went on it with my college friends and I don't remember getting very wet… Not to mention the line's short, since it's still early."

"A _water ride_?" Tony repeated. It was amazing how that was literally _all_ he got from Pepper's entire explanation. Selective hearing, indeed.

. . .

Now whistling _Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah_ (and refusing to stop), Tony pranced out of Splash Mountain, stopping to shake his wet hair like a shaggy dog. Pepper covered her face at the last minute, but didn't manage to avoid getting showered in Tony's secondhand spray. She glared at him, but then he put his mouse ears back on and Pepper couldn't bear how cute he looked… she couldn't stay mad at him, not in Disney World.

After a quick ride on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster and stopping to get Tony _another_ ice cream bar (Pepper envied his metabolism; how could he eat so much junk and not be overweight?), they moved on to Liberty Square.

"There's a good place to have lunch here, but I've already made reservations for one at the Crystal Palace. That's in an hour; think you can survive until then without food?"

Tony paused to consider this, before nodding. "What's next on the agenda then, Pepper Potts?" Pepper rolled her eyes; Tony had this weird thing where he never just called her "Pepper"; it was always "Pep" or "Pepper Potts" or, if she was in a particularly good mood and wasn't going to hit him, "Virginia."

"The Haunted Mansion?" she proposed. "It's not that scary, from what I remember… Just dark. The ride stalled when I went with Saffron and Marie, my college roommates."

A wide grin split Tony's face as he allowed himself to be led towards the graveyard that surrounded the indoor Haunted Mansion ride. "We can make out like teenagers," he said.

Pepper rolled her eyes, but inwardly admitted that the idea sounded appealing to her. Making out in the dark on a Disney ride? _Jeez, I'm as kinky as Tony sometimes._

. . .

Tony was pouting when they got off the Haunted Mansion ride. "It didn't stall," he complained. Indeed, they had missed out on their make out session opportunity. Pepper grinned and decided to throw him a bone.

"We have lunch now; are you hungry?" She knew what his answer would be. His eyes lit up.

"Starving!"

In many ways, Tony Stark was a very typical male: obsessed with sex, cars, and food.

. . .

The Crystal Palace was a buffet-style restaurant, it turned out, which Tony was an adamant supporter of. He went back for seconds and thirds before Pepper even finished her salad. He also got photos with every single one of the in-costume Winnie the Pooh characters and refused to take off his mouse ears.

There were a few moments when Pepper realized someone had recognized the great Tony Stark (she hadn't really had a chance to pay attention to people's reactions to them before, as Tony had been keeping her busy with his immaturity and short attention span). At one point, some little kid in – Pepper hardly believed it – an _Iron Man t-shirt_ came up and timidly presented his Disney autograph book (already signed by Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy).

Pepper jabbed Tony's side, directing his attention towards the little boy. "Tony," she said pointedly, stalling so he could ungracefully swallow a mouthful of food, "You have an admirer."

Tony lit up brighter than a Christmas tree. He got out of his seat and squatted to be on eye-level with the perhaps nine- or ten-year-old boy.

"Hey there," Tony said. Pepper watched with great interest as he gave the kid a reassuring smile.

"A-Are you Iron Man?" the kid stammered, not quite making eye contact, just kind of staring at the center of Tony's chest, where the arc reactor was hidden beneath his shirt.

Tony's grin widened. "I sure am. I see you've got me on your shirt."

The kid looked down, as if he'd forgotten what shirt he was wearing, and turned beet red when he realized Tony was right. "Y-Yeah, I…" His eyes flickered up to meet Tony's. Tony was staring down at him encouragingly, prompting him to continue. "You're my favorite superhero."

Pepper hadn't thought it was possible for Tony's smile to get any brighter, but somehow he managed it. He loved – _loved_ – it when people called him a superhero.

"That's so awesome," Tony said, sounding utterly sincere. "Would you like me to sign your book?"

The little boy nodded several times in rapid succession, to the point where he kind of looked like a bobblehead. Pepper had to bite her bottom lip to keep from chuckling.

Tony took the boy's autograph book. Pepper scooted closer so she could read what Tony was writing over his shoulder as Tony continued talking to his little fan.

"What's your name, then?"

"Derek," the kid replied, sounding slightly less nervous.

"How old are you?"

"I'm nine and a half."

"Is this your first trip to Disney World?"

The kid looked down at his white tennis shoes. "Yeah…"

Tony beamed. "Me too! What a coincidence!" The kid looked up and smiled, obviously thrilled to have something in common with Iron Man.

Pepper felt like she could just die of adorability.

"Well, my name is Tony, and this is my girlfriend, Pepper." Tony gestured behind him, shooting Pepper a brief smile before scribbling a message in the autograph book in his sloppy, slanted handwriting.

_Derek –_

_Hope your first trip to Disney World is as awesome as mine has been. Ride Space Mountain five times for me._

– _Tony Stark, aka Iron Man_

"There ya go, kid. Have fun." Once the star-struck little boy – Derek – had left, Tony stretched his legs and returned to his seat. Pepper watched as Derek went sprinting up to his parents, nearly knocking over Piglet, holding up his autograph book and pointing at Tony. The parents raised their eyebrows, squinting at Tony and muttering to each other. Pepper figured they were probably debating whether or not the man sitting just across from them in a restaurant in Disney World was actually _the_ Tony Stark.

"Come on, let's get out of here before anyone else decides they want a piece of this action," Tony said, ushering Pepper towards the door. She rolled her eyes at his egotism, but decided to let it go. "So," he said once they'd gotten out into the open, "Where to next?"

Pepper pulled out her map and consulted it a moment before deciding, "Let's go do Fantasyland. Wanna watch me get sick on the spinning teacup ride?"

"Boy do I ever!"

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: I have been on all the rides mentioned in this chapter. Saffron and Marie, Pepper's college roommates, are entirely made up. And the Haunted Mansion ride actually did stall the last time I went on it, as my friend Fire's Shadow123 will remember. The next chapter will also be in Magic Kingdom. I know I'm drawing this out a lot, but there will be a lot of important things that happen during their Disney trip and I don't want to have to rush through any of them! Besides, this is going to be a 100-chapter story; I'll have time for other mini-plots. This just happens to be a particularly long one._


	9. Fireworks

_A/N: Don't think I don't see all you who have this on your story alert but aren't reviewing. Shame on you. Once again, all Disney parks, rides, and attractions mentioned are real. Congratulations to jax for being the first to notice and comment on the StarKid reference in chapter 1. Avengers spoilers, not that there haven't already been some._

_I'm debating, should they spend a day in Universal Studios? The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and all that? I'm thinking no, but I want to know your opinions. By the way, what is it with fireworks constantly showing up in this story? I swear I'm not doing it on purpose._

_Expect pretty regular updates, since I've now got my good friend Fire's Shadow123 once again filling in the role as my official motivator / muse._

**9: Fireworks**

_Magic Kingdom_

Just as she'd predicted, Pepper was feeling thoroughly nauseated after the spinning teacups. "We should _not_ have gone straight to that after lunch," she said, clutching her stomach. Tony laughed appreciatively. He could stomach anything, the lucky bastard.

Killing time until the evening fireworks show, Tony and Pepper experienced some of Magic Kingdom's more family-friendly rides in Fantasyland. Pepper even endured half an hour of waiting in line for the Small World ride, listening to the song play over and over and over again.

Once they'd squeezed every last drop of entertainment in Fantasyland, as well as the Goofy roller coaster in the adjacent Toontown, Pepper led Tony into the final area of Magic Kingdom.

"Tommorrowland?" Tony read aloud as they passed a shop filled with Star Wars merchandise.

"You bet," Pepper said. "I saved the best for last. Should we get in line for Space Mountain?"

Tony's eyes widened. "Space Mountain? Where?!"

"Well, it's the giant white futuristic building over there that's kind of shaped like a mountain," Pepper pointed out drily. In his excitement, Tony didn't respond to her sarcasm. It probably hadn't even registered.

Tony sprinted towards Space Mountain (and Pepper followed at a respectable pace, determined to be the mature one in their relationship). There was a forty-minute wait, but they mutually decided it was worth it.

In line, it was pretty obvious that basically everyone around them recognized the famous Tony Stark. Pepper couldn't believe she hadn't noticed all the pointing, staring, and whispering that had been going on before Derek had outright approached them and asked for Tony's autograph.

A cluster of nearby teenage boys pointed and muttered to each other under their breath; a mother restrained her son, insisting that "it's rude to stare." Pepper was grateful at least that no one flat-out came up to them; Derek in the Crystal Palace had been cute, but watching fans surround her boyfriend could get really annoying really fast.

Ten minutes passed. Tony began humming _It's a Small World_. Pepper was having a hard time ignoring him.

Another ten minutes passed. Tony began singing _It's a Small World_. In a foreign language.

"When did you learn Japanese?" Pepper asked. She'd never heard Tony speak a language other than English.

"Before I learned Mandarin, but after I learned Java."

Pepper gaped. "I barely passed high school French!" she exclaimed.

By this point, the line was moving at a fairly steady pace. When they reached the ride itself, Tony strapped himself in and belted out the Star Wars theme. Pepper pretended she didn't know him.

. . .

"How did you beat me?" Tony wondered indignantly as he and Pepper exited the Buzz Lightyear ride. "I'm _Iron Man_."

Feigning outrage (but secretly very proud of his girlfriend), Tony stopped in front of a wall of screens displaying the photos taking during the ride. Their photo showed Tony shooting Zurg with an intense expression on his face, midway through shouting, "DIE, ALIEN SCUM! DIE!" Next to him, the Pepper in the photo was hunched over her laser gun, tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth in concentration.

"It must be my killer aim," Pepper said, forming her fingers into a pistol and pretending to shoot. "Pew! Pew!"

Tony laughed. His competitiveness diminished a bit, and he put his arm around Pepper's shoulders as they walked. The sun was setting, which meant the fireworks would start soon.

"Maybe I should build you a suit," Tony said, only half joking. "We could fight crime, side-by-side." Only after he said it aloud did he realize how appealing that sounded. Plus, Pepper in armor? Sexy.

"Isn't that what you and the 'Avengers' already do?" Pepper reminded him, putting air quotes around "Avengers."

"You can take Thor's place," Tony said after a moment of deliberation. "He went back to Asgard."

"Too bad, though," Pepper said with a sigh. "He was hot. And his brother wasn't bad-looking either."

Tony paused mid-step, the arm he'd had around Pepper falling limply at his side. Pepper turned, facing him with a mischievous grin. He raised his eyebrows. "_Really_, Pepper? _Loki_?" He shook his head, shuddering at the mental image this was giving him.

To his bemusement, Pepper's grin widened. "You're surprisingly easy to throw off guard," she observed. Having (mostly) recovered from his momentary shock (aside from the inevitable and probably permanent scarring, because there are some things you just can't un-envision), Tony rolled his eyes, keeping his arm possessively around Pepper as they continued on. She seemed pleased by this.

Dusk was approaching, and Tony and Pepper found a spot by the water where they could sit and watch the fireworks show when it began. An evening chill began to settle over them. Pepper shivered, and Tony seized the opportunity to cuddle. He was a huge supporter of cuddling. He hadn't realized this about himself before dating Pepper, but since the two of them became an item, he felt frequent urges to wrap himself around Pepper and cling to her like a barnacle.

The first loud explosion startled Pepper; she jumped a little in Tony's arms before settling into his chest to watch the show.

Deep in thought, Tony hearkened back to the night that had started it all: that New Year's Eve a few years previously. He remembered their first kiss. As he buried his nose in Pepper's ginger hair, the greens and reds and blues of the fireworks reflecting in his dark eyes, he remembered the moment when he'd first realized that he loved her.

Spontaneous as always, Tony opened his mouth, because he'd been dating Pepper almost a year now and wasn't it time to break out the all-important L-word? He paused a moment, considering briefly if he should hold off just a bit longer so he could tell Pepper how he felt in some grand, extravagant way (skywriting, perhaps). But he figured Pepper was the kind of person who would find it more romantic if he just said it, out of the blue, no prerequisite whatsoever. In the past, his spontaneous romantic gestures had generated better responses than his over-the-top displays of affection.

Yes, he decided. Now was definitely the right time.

He pulled back slightly so he could look into Pepper's eyes. Still leaning against him, Pepper angled her head so she could look up at him expectantly.

"Pepper," Tony said, smiling genuinely.

"Tony," she replied. Pause. "Your arc reactor is really uncomfortable to lean against."

_Oh._

"Would it be more or less uncomfortable for you if I took it out and you were leaning against a corpse?" Tony replied sarcastically, because the moment was gone anyways so why not ruin the mood by bringing up dead bodies?

Pepper pursed her lips. "I wonder, does your sarcasm come with an 'off' switch?"

"'Fraid not, Pep."

"Shame." Pepper leaned against him again, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Here," Tony said after a moment, shifting so that Pepper was resting against his side, under the crook of his arm. "Better?"

"Much."

_I'll tell her tomorrow, _Tony resolved as Pepper returned her attention to the fireworks. _It can wait._

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	10. Moments

_A/N: Sorry for the delay, for some reason this chapter was giving me a really hard time! This is another example of a chapter idea that I got from my own experience; it has rained literally every single time I've been to EPCOT. Literally. Every. Single. Time._

_Tenth chapter, guys! And the fourth and final chapter of the Disney sub-plot._

**10: Moments**

_EPCOT_

Pepper's flip-flops splashed through deep puddles as sheets of rain fell over the entire United Kingdom… the United Kingdom section of EPCOT, that is. Tony pulled her with him into a red telephone box. There was barely enough room for them both to squeeze inside; thankfully there wasn't actually a telephone in there.

Tony breathed out a sigh, listening to the rain hammering against the small rectangular box, his body completely pressed against Pepper's. Not that he minded. On the contrary, Pepper was wearing a snug white t-shirt that had been thoroughly soaked through by the rain, and her hair had darkened to a deep auburn shade. Was it strange for him to think she looked beautiful this way?

It was then that he noticed Pepper's teeth chattering. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms to keep her warm.

"This is cozy," Tony observed, leaning his chin on Pepper's forehead and smiling into her hair.

"If by 'cozy' you mean 'claustrophobic'…"

Tony tilted Pepper's head up to meet his eyes. One of his hands came to rest at the back of her neck, and he brought their lips together in a kiss.

He had every intention of it being a short, sweet, romantic kiss. But they were pressed up together in a box with no intentions of going outside any time soon (at least until the rain stopped). Not to mention that Tony Stark had never been known for his self-restraint.

Pepper practically melted in his arms when he tilted his head and deepened the kiss. Her palms were pressed up against his chest; she slid them over his shoulders, up his neck, and buried her slender fingers in his hair.

"Pepper," Tony whispered when they briefly broke apart. Pepper looked up, waiting for him to go on.

_I love you. _He wondered if she could see the words in his eyes.

He didn't say it aloud, though; his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden silence. It had stopped raining.

Pepper's voice cut through the spell of silence. "Seriously, though, Tony, this is really claustrophobic. Can we leave?"

. . .

_Animal Kingdom_

"If you were an animal, you'd be a… giraffe."

"What?" Pepper scrunched up her nose (adorable) and unwrapped the rainbow Popsicle Tony had brought her. "Why a giraffe?"

Tony shrugged. "I dunno. It's the first thing that came to mind. Ooh. A swan. You could be a swan."

"Better," Pepper said with a small smile. Watching her tongue lick the frozen treat was doing crazy things to Tony's imagination.

"What about me?" he asked, mostly to distract himself.

Pepper tapped her chin in consideration. "I don't know, something obnoxious," she said, grinning. Tony pretended to take offense to this. "But intelligent," she added, "And arrogant." She paused. "A lion."

"Are lions smart?"

"No idea, but they always seemed pretty stuck-up to me. 'King of the Jungle' and all that." Tony shoved her playfully.

"You realize now I have to start singing songs from _The Lion King_?" he said.

"Oh please no!" Pepper exclaimed.

"It's the _circle_ of _life_!"

Pepper snorted, then covered her nose and blushed bright red. "Oh gosh, Tony, stop making me laugh."

"You have a cute laugh." Tony meant it. There were things about Pepper that just drove him crazy, in a good way. The way she scrunched her nose, the way she laughed so hard she snorted. Her hair, her freckles, the slope of her nose: all things he had spent evenings staring at as they fell asleep together.

"Pepper…"

Red food coloring dripped down from her Popsicle and onto her hand in the heat of midday.

"Yeah?"

He paused, sighed inwardly. "You should probably finish that before it melts all over you."

. . .

_Hollywood Studios_

"Well," Pepper said as she and Tony staggered out of Hollywood Studios with the rest of the audience from the evening performance of Fantasmic, "That was our grand finale. Tonight's our last night. Better make it count, yeah?"

Tony grinned, and there was something in his eye – a glint, a sparkle – that told Pepper he had something extra special in mind.

"Do you mind if we stop by Magic Kingdom before heading back to the hotel?" he asked. "I want to see the fireworks one last time."

Pepper squinted her eyes, scrutinizing him, because this was highly suspicious. She was pretty sure the fireworks were already over in Magic Kingdom… but she decided to go along with it, despite her feet hurting and her eyes drooping. She'd humor Tony on his last day in Disney World.

"Alright," she said. "Let's go."

. . .

_Magic Kingdom_

"No. Tony, you didn't."

"I… pulled some strings." He shrugged. "It really wasn't a huge deal. I just—"

"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed, clamping her hand over his mouth. "Shut up! You don't have to be modest; we're in a _palace_! Not just _a_ palace, _the_ palace! _Cinderella's_ palace! I cannot believe you got us the room in _Cinderella's palace_! I thought you had to be someone incredibly famous to… oh wait!" She laughed so loud she snorted, but didn't seem to mind. "You're _Iron Man_!"

"So… are you surprised?"

"_Surprised_?" She was beyond surprised. She was going to stay a night in a palace! She felt like a princess! "I feel like a princess! Tony! I—" _I think I might just love you right now._

Her phone rang loudly. She cut off, holding up a finger. "Just let me see if it's important. Then, I will _show_ you _exactly_ how grateful I am." She wiggled her eyebrows, because just this once she would give Tony the benefit of the doubt and be a little suggestive, just because she was so thoroughly happy.

When she saw who was calling, her smile faded slightly. "It's… it's my mother." That was odd. Pepper wasn't especially close to her parents; her mother usually only called on special occasions. "Just… this'll only take a minute." She picked up the phone. "Hello?"

. . .

_Magic Kingdom_

Tony waited patiently while Pepper listened to her mother speak. He wished he could hear what the woman was saying; it was obviously something serious. Suddenly, Pepper caught her breath, staggering backwards and collapsing onto an armchair. "No," she said, her voice sounding broken.

What had just a moment ago been the happiest Tony had ever seen Pepper, had shifted instantaneously into the exact opposite. When Pepper hung up the phone, she just sat there, staring at it, her shoulders hunched forward as if she was collapsing into herself. She looked up at Tony.

"It's my dad," she said, her voice catching in her throat as tears welled in her eyes. "He had a heart attack. He's… he's dead."

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: I honestly don't know if Pepper's parents are ever mentioned in Iron Man canon, so I made up my own convenient story for them. By the way, after reading this, if you want to go back to chapter 8 and see if you can spot the foreshadowing, you'll win a virtual cake! (Meaning, of course, no cake at all.) Anyways, this particular plot string won't be extended any longer, so sorry if it ends kind of really abruptly. I just needed to get this chapter over with and move on. I already have the next chapter on my phone; just need to transfer it to Word and post it._


	11. Dream

_A/N: Think of this as an apology for taking so long on the last chapter! Takes place between IM and IM2. Definitely a T rating. Next chapter coming very soon._

**11: Dream**

Pepper woke with a start, tangled in her sheets and glistening with a sheen of sweat. The sound of her heart beating pounded in her ears, and her breath came rapid and shallow. Desperate for air, she untwisted herself from her comforter and made her way across the modest room to the window, bare feet padding softly on a wood floor.

The latch resisted her trembling fingers, but Pepper managed to unlock it and throw open the window. Eyes shut, she inhaled a deep, cleansing breath, calming her body and collecting her thoughts.

Having just awoken from the last of a string of recent, vivid dreams that plagued her nights, Pepper felt she was in a position to say that, at the very least, things were not looking good. In fact, she might even go so far as to say that they were going quite badly indeed.

But what to do about it?

She called to mind the events of the dream. Admittedly, she should have known better. It was best to forget that her mind had ever conjured these crazy (wonderful) visions. Just a day earlier, she had found herself recalling the previous night's dream when Tony had entered the room and almost given her a panic attack.

_Tony._ Now he was the problem, wasn't he? She supposed he always had been (a problem, that is), just never in this way. Never in a way that so deeply affected her. Her dreams were haunted by fantasies of his eyes, his mouth, his body, _him_.

Last night, she'd fallen asleep thinking of innocent things: kittens, shopping, groceries, politics. Hair. She needed to get a haircut. Wondering if she should disrupt her relaxation to set a reminder on her BlackBerry, she decided that sleep was more important than haircuts.

Haircuts. Hair. Tony's hair. Tony…

In her dream last night, she was running her hands through Tony's hair, teasing his neck with her tongue and teeth, grinding her hips against his.

This was when she had woken.

The past few nights had been no different. On Thursday, it was Tony's name on her lips when she woke. On Friday, it was his hands doing wonderful, unspeakable things to her. On Saturday, it was his teeth sinking into that spot above her collarbone that made her practically collapse with pleasure.

_I can't be having these dreams about my boss,_ she told herself strictly, stepping out onto the balcony of her fourth floor apartment. The brisk night air cleared her senses, and she shook any remnants of the dream out of her mind.

She needed to decide what to do. Plot a course of action. A "Plan A." Or perhaps Plan B, if Plan A was "Don't have sexual dreams about your boss." Too late for that.

But still she had options, she reminded herself. If worst came to worst, she could quit, although she resolved to only use that as a very last resort. She was extremely content with this job, despite Tony's attitude and behavior and flaws and overall Tony-ness. Not to mention she absolutely _despised_ job-hunting.

Short of quitting, she supposed she could find a boyfriend. A living, breathing, not-Tony boyfriend. Surely she was only having these inappropriate Tony dreams because it had been so long since she'd been in a physical relationship, and Tony just happened to be the most important man in her life, being her boss and also a general pain. Maybe this was a sign that she needed to develop a life outside of work.

But man-hunting was an even more daunting task than job-hunting, and one for which Pepper was far less qualified. She knew she was attractive (there had to be a reason Tony hit on her, other than his rampant sexual drive and complete horniness), nice, smart, social. At first glance, she was the complete package. It was usually when the subject of work came up that men discovered the many turn-offs of Pepper Potts. She was a workaholic whose job was to babysit an attractive, womanizing billionaire. Not exactly ideal girlfriend material.

So if she couldn't quit, and she couldn't get a boyfriend…

_Get it together, Pepper,_ she commanded herself. _You've been ignoring how attractive and totally into you Tony is for years. Why should that stop just because your subconscious decides to torture you? If it gets worse, you'll do something about it, but you'll cross that bridge when you come to it. Right now, it's 3am and you'll be miserable all day if you don't get a good night's sleep._

Somewhat reassured, Pepper returned to her bed, but alas, sleep would not come. Meanwhile, Pepper's mind was wrought with images from her recent Tony dreams, an unrelenting and completely unwelcome desire creeping up in the back of her mind.

"Why can't I get him out of my head?" she bemoaned.

As if cued by some ironic force of nature, her BlackBerry trilled three notes in rapid succession, signaling an incoming text. Knowing she wouldn't be getting to sleep any time soon, Pepper picked it up.

"1 New Message," it read. She unlocked it, located the yellow envelope that designated an unread message, and read the sender's name: "Tony." "Of course," she muttered bitterly to herself. She selected the message to open it.

"Pepper. Can't sleep. You awake?"

It wasn't what Pepper had expected. She'd been fully anticipating a request for her to come in at this ungodly hour and help Tony find his toolbox, or worse, replace his arc reactor again. The memory of her first experience with Tony's heart battery still made her terrified just thinking about it.

Willing to indulge Tony just this once, Pepper replied.

"Yes."

She hit "Send." Shortly thereafter, another three-note trill heralded Tony's reply.

"Can't sleep either?"

She considered lying, telling Tony she'd just been woken up by the sound of his incoming text, but she couldn't see much harm in giving him the truth (or some of it, at least).

"No."

"Want to talk about it?"

Did she want to talk about it? With him? Absolutely not! What would she say? "Well, Tony, I've been having dreams wherein we have heated, passionate sex and the disturbing part is I'm not as disgusted by them as I should be." Yeah, what could possibly go wrong? So she hedged.

"Not really. Just a dream I had.

"A bad dream?"

She considered this. It hadn't been… _bad_, per say. Her dream-self would probably say it was anything _but_ "bad." Then again, her dream-self was a slut who regularly slept with her boss.

"Not bad. Just not what I wanted to see."

"…You don't make sense."

Pepper sighed.

"Most of the time, neither do you." She paused, before adding, "What's keeping you awake?"

His reply took a moment.

"Just thinking."

"Aren't you always? What are you thinking about?"

This time he took even longer. When her phone finally trilled, she almost thought Tony had fallen asleep on her. She read his message, and it caught her completely off guard.

"What's it like, Pepper? Dealing with me?"

This gave Pepper pause. It was maddening. Infuriating, sometimes. Often she felt like throttling Tony, tearing out her hair, screaming at him. Holding his head underwater until the bubbles stopped. But at the same time, being Tony's personal assistant was the best job she'd ever had.

"It's worth it," she finally decided to say.

She left it up for Tony to decide what that meant.

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	12. Call

_A/N: Takes place immediately after the battle in Avengers. Let me know if you spot either the Doctor Who reference or the Star Wars reference in this chapter. Fifty points to Gryffindor for whoever gets them both._

**12: Call**

Ever since Tony had put on the Iron Man suit, Pepper had been a wreck. Not all the time. Not when he was home, or with her. Just when he was away.

She couldn't sleep by herself anymore. Instead, she would stay awake, tossing fitfully, her mind an endless reel of worst case scenarios, her body wound tight as a spring.

Never had she been wound tighter than when he was gone with Nick Fury's Avengers. She hadn't slept in days; she hadn't heard from him in days. When the battle in New York City commenced, she followed the live news coverage, on the edge of her seat, biting her nails. That had been the worst of it.

Almost as bad were the days before, when he could have been anywhere, could have been dead for all she knew, when she might never have seen him again. It was exactly the sort of tragic déjà vu she imagined Shakespeare would have a field day over: a replay of when Tony had disappeared in the Middle East, the same sleepless nights and days throwing herself into her work as a distraction.

She dialed Nick Fury the instant the news feed showed Tony closing the portal and falling out of the sky. After yelling a mostly incoherent string of swear words, not giving Fury a word in edgewise, she gave an exasperated sigh. "You know what? Forget it. I need to speak to someone reasonable. Put Phil on."

Ten minutes later, after sobbing into the mouthpiece over the news of Phil's death, Fury managed to speak over her. He offered to send an armored car and two bodyguards, courtesy of S.H.I.E.L.D., to escort her into Manhattan. She sniffled, nodded, then realized she was on the phone and Fury had no way of knowing that she'd just nodded, and managed a croaky "Yes please."

The NYPD tried to stop them at the edge of the perimeter they'd established. Much to her driver's chagrin, Pepper immediately stepped out of the car, heels clacking against the pavement.

"Excuse me," she said, trying her best to look intimidating despite the mascara smears on her face. "You have to let me through. I'm Tony Stark's girlfriend."

One of the policemen laughed. "Right. I'm sure. Along with every other woman in America, right?"

At this, Pepper's two big, burly bodyguards – neither of whom had spoken a word up to this point – stood, actually succeeding in looking intimidating where Pepper had failed. One of them whipped out a S.H.I.E.L.D. badge. Feeling empowered, Pepper smirked and crossed her arms.

After the policemen had let them through, the car took Pepper the rest of the way to Stark Tower. She instinctively knew Tony would still be there. He had to be.

Getting out of the armored car, Pepper swayed slightly, all her yelling and crying and worrying and not sleeping finally catching up to her. One of her guards took her arm and steadied her. She was feeling lightheaded, but she waved the guard off. She didn't want to seem weak, didn't want Tony to see her falling apart like this.

Not like it wasn't obvious how distraught she was. The makeup stains, the dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was limp and lifeless, and she hadn't been eating well since Tony left.

Nevertheless, she marched into the building, flanked by the guards, and took the elevator to the top, hoping to find Tony there.

The elevator doors slid open with a ding, and sure enough, a bruised and battered but otherwise breathing Anthony Stark stood facing Thor and Flag Man, or whatever he called himself. Captain America.

Natalie (no, Natasha, her name was Natasha), what's-his-face with the bows and arrows, and some guy in a purple shirt were also there.

Pepper stopped dead, her hands limp at her sides. Natasha spotted her first, and muttered something to Tony under her breath. Tony immediately turned his wide-eyed gaze on the door, spied Pepper standing there, and took a few slow, hesitant steps toward her, like she was a wild deer who might be startled by any sudden movements and run away.

The entire room was silent. All eyes were on Pepper. All her pent-up emotions – the worry, the sadness, the anger, the grief – came pouring out, and she didn't know what to say. The silence stretched on. When Pepper could no longer hold it in, she ran up to Tony and burst into tears, taking his face in her hands and pressing their lips together desperately.

At first alarmed by Pepper's tears, Tony then enveloped her in his arms, pulling her into his warmth.

Over Tony's shoulder, Thor blinked, Natalie/Natasha rolled her eyes, Arrows Man raised an eyebrow, Captain America averted his eyes, and Purple Shirt looked immensely uncomfortable.

"I thought…" Pepper began when they broke apart, her voice cracking and her breath catching in her throat. She spoke softly, so only Tony could hear. "I thought you died. When you went through the portal… and then when you fell… And when you were gone… I couldn't sleep or eat or…" She took a shaky breath. "And when I saw that you called… What if you _had_ died? What if I never got to hear your voice again?"

Tony's mouth opened and closed; he was obviously floundering for words. Clearly he wasn't the best at comforting. "Pepper…" he said. "I…" He pulled her in for an embrace. She buried her face in his shoulder. When she opened her eyes, she saw, over his shoulder, a man laying on the floor.

"Tony," she said slowly, sniffling only slightly as she wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. "Who is that?"

Reluctantly, Tony released Pepper and turned around. He chuckled. "Oh. _That_ would be Loki." He returned her attention to her. "Which reminds me… I don't think I've introduced my… um… Gang? Team?" He paused, looking at Natasha. "Comrades?"

Natasha quirked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"You're already familiar with Natasha Romanoff," Tony began, gesturing to Natasha, who gave Pepper a hesitant half-salute, half-wave. Pepper still didn't much care for Natasha… if only because of petty jealousies that really shouldn't have meant anything anymore. "She's got an attitude so fiery it's incredible it doesn't melt her ice-cold heart." Natasha smacked the back of his head.

"Next to her is Clint Barton, sometimes called Hawkeye," Tony continued, "Who for whatever reason prefers medieval weaponry to anything from _this_ century."

"You're just upset because I'm just as effective as your company's weapons," Clint muttered under his breath.

"Hey," Tony said, pointing an accusatory finger at Clint. "We don't make weapons anymore."

"Then that's Steve Rogers, the Captain himself, all unfrozen from that carbonite – I mean ice." Steve smiled in a friendly way, and Pepper decided that she liked him. "I'll need your help planning his one hundredth birthday party.

"This is Bruce Banner, a genius not unlike myself, with slight anger management issues. He's an expert on radiation and the second smartest person in this room."

The man in the purple shirt – presumably Bruce – crossed his arms. "Second smartest?" he repeated. But Tony had already moved on.

"Last of all is Thor." Tony paused. "Just… Thor, I guess. And…he's an alien. From Asgard. His brother – the one on the floor – is the one who started this whole mess."

Thor gave an apologetic half-smile. "He's adopted," he added by way of explanation.

Tony then turned back to Pepper. "That explain everything?"

Slightly overwhelmed, Pepper nodded silently. "How long are they staying?" she asked, trying not to sound like she _wanted_ them to leave, because that would be rude.

As if reading her thoughts, Tony grinned widely. "Tomorrow morning we'll all head out. Fury's sending a helicopter to pick us up once he sorts everything out with the government." He winked. "Don't worry. We can have the bedroom all to ourselves tonight."

Pepper didn't even roll her eyes at his suggestiveness. Tony's hands were at her elbows, his thumbs lightly rubbing her skin. She knew she would very much like to lose herself in Tony tonight, forget about the fear and the danger and everything but him. Maybe, lying next to him, she'd finally get some sleep. Maybe then everything could be right again.

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	13. Invitation

**13: Invitation**

He was getting far too absorbed in his work. Lately Pepper went whole days without so much as seeing Tony; he spent nearly all his time in his workroom, going to bed after Pepper was already sound asleep, if he went to bed at all. His only companions were Jarvis and his music; he'd shunned human interaction, not even seeking Pepper out.

Pepper was used to Tony spending nearly all his free time in the workroom. When she got bored or lonely, oftentimes she'd join him down there. It was the norm. But when Tony had stopped emerging in the evenings, that was when she knew he had gone off into his own world.

He did this sometimes: holed up in his workroom and didn't come out, didn't seek out Pepper's presence with a far from subtle request via text message. "Come down here and we'll make out in the backseat of one of my cars, like teenagers in an eighties movie." Something like that.

Lack of communication usually meant Tony had blocked off the rest of the world to work on some new project that was requiring his full and undivided attention. Pepper knew she would have to find ways to entertain herself.

It wouldn't be so bad if Pepper could invite her old college roommate and current best friend, Saffron Day, for an evening of tequila and DiCaprio movies. On occasion, Pepper actually looked forward to nights spent drunkenly belting _My Heart Will Go On_. But Saff was visiting family in Minnesota, and Pepper knew from experience that watching movies she'd seen a hundred times featuring an only somewhat attractive man was only fun if she was totally wasted and _not_ alone.

In other words, Pepper needed to formulate a Plan B.

Never having been much of a schemer, Pepper texted Saffron, hoping the time difference wouldn't cause any issues.

. . .

_Message sent:_

You busy? I need to talk.

_Message received:_

Nah, my sister just went into labor so I'm just in the hospital waiting room. What's up?

_Message sent:_

Tony's holed up in his workroom and ignoring me. Something must be done.

_Message received:_

He hasn't even been coming up for sex? Sounds unlike him. What's your plan of action?

_Message sent:_

IDK, hoping you could help me with that. You have a lot more experience in the field of men.

_Message received:_

Are you calling me a slut?

_Message sent:_

You know I am.

_Message received:_

Only you can make it sound like a compliment.

_Message sent:_

It's a gift. Now, back to Tony.

_Message received:_

Right. Well I know you, Pepper, and you'll want to go running down to him and beg for his attention. DON'T. Just go on with your life. Remember? That thing you used to have before Tony took over your existence? You know how to have fun. I know you do.

_Message sent:_

I'm not sure I even remember what it's like to have fun on my own.

_Message received:_

I've said it before that your workaholism would catch up to you eventually. High time I staged an intervention. Here's what you gotta do: treat yourself! Go to the spa, go to the gym. Remember how you used to run every morning? I thought you were crazy, but you loved it. Just do stuff you like. I gotta go, my sister is literally giving birth right now. TTYL.

. . .

It was a Saturday so technically speaking, Pepper needn't have come in at all, but she had practically moved in with Tony by then. It was really only a matter of moving the rest of her things out of her apartment. Tony knew he needed to remind himself to help her do that. Today would've been a good day for it, too, if Tony wasn't so busy.

His restless mind woke him up early, an annoying habit it developed when Tony was on the verge of a breakthrough. He repressed the groan that threatened to escape him – and potentially wake Pepper – as he forced himself up out of bed. For a moment, he contemplated just heading downstairs in his boxers, but decided against it in favor of showering and getting dressed. The fact that he had to put serious thought into whether or not he would observe basic hygiene probably should have been his first indicator that his latest project had taken over his life. But alas, when Tony got caught up in his own mind, real life could dance naked in front of him and he still wouldn't pay it any mind.

As he exited the master bedroom, now washed and dried, dressed in a t-shirt and slacks, and with minty fresh breath, Tony didn't even stop to wonder what Pepper would think of his absence when she woke. He hadn't been stopping to think of Pepper much at all, not lately. Not when he was so preoccupied with Stark Industries' latest clean energy project.

"Jarvis, get everything going for me," Tony said to the AI as he descended the stairs, running a hand through his hair and stretching his arms out in a yawn. He smiled sleepily at the sounds of machinery and computer systems starting up, pulling up his chair and reclining in it, his feet propped up on the desk.

"All systems go, sir," Jarvis replied.

"Ah," Tony said, visibly relaxing. "Now, let's get down to—"

Tony's thoughts were interrupted by the ding of his text message alert. He sighed (he'd just been getting into "the zone"), unlocked his phone, and opened the unread message. It was from Pepper.

_T —_

_I'll be out this morning. Maybe back around noon. Only call if there's an emergency. Don't set anything on fire. I mean it this time._

— _P_

Briefly, Tony wondered where on Earth Pepper could be going so early on a Saturday morning, but he couldn't be bothered to ask. Instead, he shrugged, plugged his phone into the speaker system, and blared his working playlist.

. . .

Pepper was still skeptical as to whether she could entertain herself for an entire day, but she set off Saturday morning nevertheless.

It was in Starbucks, as she sat with her laptop and her cappuccino, checking Tony's email for him (a chore she had taken on ages ago), when she heard a startlingly familiar voice behind her ordering coffee. She turned in her chair, whipping her head around so abruptly her ponytail nearly came undone. Sure enough, a tall, lanky man was counting coins in his hand to pay the cashier, and Pepper would know the back of that head anywhere.

"Jason?" she said incredulously. "Jason Tooley?"

The man turned around, spotted Pepper, and his confused expression was immediately replaced by one of recognition.

"Pepper Potts!" The man, Jason, took his coffee cup from the employee and settled into the empty chair across from Pepper. "What are the odds?"

Closing her laptop, Pepper looked her former neighbor up and down. He hadn't grown, but then, he'd been plenty tall to begin with. His hair was no less mussy than she remembered it, a dark brown mop of curls on his head, and he still wore the same sort of clothes: denim jeans and a sweater. He was every inch the boy she'd grown up across the street from, attended grade school and junior high and high school with. Jason, the boy who'd sat with her as they filled out college applications to all the same schools, who'd celebrated with wine from his parents' liquor cabinet when they'd both gotten into UCLA.

"What's brought you back to Los Angeles?" she inquired. The last she'd heard, Jason was living in San Francisco, working with Adobe Systems.

"I just moved here a month ago," Jason said. "New job and all. Boring finance stuff, you wouldn't want to hear about it." He waved his hand dismissively. "But what's this I hear about you and Tony Stark? You two were in _People_ magazine, when was it, January?"

Pepper blushed. "Oh… that…"

"So it's true?" Jason mock-gasped. "I have to hear this story." He raised his eyebrows, prompting her to tell him how it had happened. Pepper took a deep breath and began.

"Well, you remember how, when we graduated, I was coveting an internship with Stark Industries?" Jason nodded, undoubtedly recalling how desperately Pepper had wanted that internship. It had been all she talked about in the last few months before graduation. "Turns out I got it," she said.

"No surprise there; we all knew you would."

Grinning at Jason's praise, Pepper continued. "Anyways, I ended up working for them. And one day, I spotted this accounting error and ended up saving the company a lot of money. This was shortly after Tony had officially inherited the company. And that's when I was offered the promotion, and I became Tony's personal assistant."

Jason shook his head disbelievingly. "Tony Stark's personal assistant. _The_ Tony Stark. Tony Stark, as in, Iron Man. _Iron Man_." He let out a huge puff of air. "Wow." He paused, just shaking his head incredulously, before his eyes lit up and he seemed to remember his original query. "Wait, so then what's this about the two of you? I could've sworn…"

"You could've sworn you read that we're a couple?" Pepper finished for him. "Believe it. It's true. My boyfriend is none other than Iron Man himself."

Suddenly, Pepper was struck with an idea. She'd been bemoaning Saffron's absence, and now she'd just happened to run across one of her other old schoolmates. It was the perfect scenario.

"Hey, I know this is short notice, but I'd really love to catch up," she began. "Are you free this evening?" She would've offered to take him to lunch, but she'd already decided to go to the spa for a manicure that afternoon and she didn't want to have to reschedule.

"Sure," Jason replied with a shrug. "What do you have in mind?"

A slow grin crept onto Pepper's face. "Well…" She took a breath. "How would you like to come to _Tony Stark's_ house and watch old movies on his enormous, flat screen TV?"

Jason gaped. "Hang out with my best friend in _Iron Man's house_? I can't believe you even need to ask."

Pepper's grin widened. "Who knows, maybe I'll even take you down to see his cars." Jason's eyes widened; he'd had something of an obsession with cars ever since Pepper had known him. But she took it a step further, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper: "Maybe you'll even get to see his Iron Man armor."

At this, Jason's jaw full-on dropped. "Pepper, now I remember why you were my best friend." Pepper scoffed.

"Are you kidding? I was your best friend because everyone else thought you were a freak. Plus I kept your 'secret' all through high school. The cars and the Iron Man suit are just perks."

After exchanging a few more words of casual banter, Pepper took Jason's phone and input her contact information. "There's my cell number, and that's Tony's address. Just stop by around seven, yeah?"

"Sounds great. See you then?"

Pepper grinned. "Definitely."

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: So? First impressions of Saffron and Jason? Anyone wondering what Jason's "secret" was that Pepper kept all through high school? Leave a review. Reviews are love._

_Lately shifted from a Big Bang Theory fanfiction obsession to a Sherlock (the BBC series) fanfiction obsession, which is why I'm exploring in this chapter the side of Tony that is "married to his work." Also, certain aspects of Pepper's backstory (how she became Tony's PA) are canon, however, any other aspects (going to UCLA, for example), as well as any persons mentioned (Saffron Day, Jason Tooley) are my own invention and created solely for the purpose of the plot._


	14. Misunderstanding

**14: Misunderstanding**

"_I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."_

Tony emerged from the basement to the sounds of _Casablanca_ blaring from his surround sound system. It was late; he hadn't thought Pepper would still be up. Perhaps she'd fallen asleep watching the movie; he figured he should check, in case he needed to carry her sleeping form back to their room. He followed the voice of Humphrey Bogart to the movie room, gently pushed open the set of double doors, and poked his head in.

"Pepper? You in here?" he spoke softly, not wanting to wake her if she was indeed asleep.

What Tony found in the movie room was partly what he had expected – Pepper was, indeed, sleeping soundly – but partly not. Because Tony _hadn't_ anticipated his girlfriend to be asleep on the shoulder of a man he was quite certain he'd never seen before.

Tony's teeth clenched. Part of him reasoned that there had to be a rational explanation for this… but most of him had already jumped to the worst-case scenario: In an unexpected and admittedly ironic turn of events, Pepper was _cheating_ on him.

Of course, deep down he knew this was ridiculous. Pepper was the most dedicated human being he knew, and even if she did suddenly go against her nature and cheat on him, she was certainly smart enough not to bring the offending man to Tony's own home. But the jealous part of Tony had already foregone logic, and he was seething.

The man who was cuddled up next to Pepper on the sofa turned when Tony spoke, and his mouth hung slightly agape. "Wow," the man said, his voice a low whisper as the sleeping Pepper burrowed into his side. "You're actually Tony Stark."

Wait… what? Tony paused, mouth slightly ajar. Why did this man seem happy to see him? "Yes," he replied curtly. "Who are _you_?"

The man tilted his head to the side, as if confused. "Sorry, can't hear you over the movie," he said, searching around him for the remote. He located it on the coffee table in front of him, just out of reach, and carefully leaned forward, trying not to wake Pepper. Her head slid off his shoulder and she jolted awake just as the man she was with shut off the Blu-ray player and returned his attention to Tony.

"You were saying?" he prompted. "Great sound system, by the way."

Tony returned to his train of thought, his jaw set in firm disapproval, this time directed at Pepper. "_Pepper_," he said, emphasizing her name, "Care to explain who _this_ is? And why he's in my house, _with my girlfriend_?"

Pepper stretched like a cat and yawned. Tony tried his utmost not to find this adorable. He failed.

"Huh?" Pepper muttered blearily, rubbing at her eyes and blinking up at him. She seemed to notice Jason for the first time since waking up, and a light went on in her eyes. "Oh! This is Jason. Jason Tooley. Have I ever mentioned him? We grew up across the street from each other, went to college together. All that. Good times."

_Good times. _The way she said it… Something about it just rubbed Tony the wrong way. He narrowed his eyes.

"Right. Well. It's _late_, so would you mind telling _Jason_ to head home?" Tony really just wanted this tall, handsome guy to leave so he could talk to Pepper alone. Jason stood, making a show of checking his pockets for his jeans and phone.

"I guess that's my cue to leave, then," Jason said, giving Tony a tight, hesitant smile. He extended his hand to Tony. "Big fan, by the way. Big fan." Realizing Tony was not going to shake his hand, Jason withdrew the arm he had offered and ran his fingers through his dark brown, shoulder-length hair.

"See you, Pepper," Jason said as he inched past Tony out the door, dismissing himself.

"Bye, Jason!" Pepper called. "This was fun! We should do it again sometime!"

…And then there were two.

Pepper waited, listening to Jason's retreating footsteps, the front door opening (and Jarvis announcing, "Front door open") and closing (and Jarvis announcing, "Front door closed"), and the sound of Jason's car starting. No, Tony realized, that wasn't a car… _Dammit. He's attractive, he's known her all her life, _and _he has a motorcycle? I mean, I'm a filthy rich, genius-level superhero with sex appeal, but he's a very close second._

Once the noise of the motorcycle engine had faded off into the distance, Pepper turned to Tony with a glare. "What the hell'd you do that for?" she demanded. Tony looked affronted.

"_Me_? I'm not the one snuggling up to strange men all night long!" Tony felt indignant, even though Jason and Pepper really hadn't been doing anything but watching movies. He couldn't exactly implicate them for that. Not that that would stop Tony from trying.

For a moment, Pepper gaped at him, her expression a cross between distaste and disbelief. "Snuggling up to strange… What am I, a prostitute? Jeez, Tony. I invited Jason over because he was my best friend for twenty years and I happened to run into him this morning in Starbucks. And you've been downstairs in your workroom ignoring me these past couple days, so I've been pretty bored. So yeah, I invited a boy over. So what? I mean honestly, you sound like my dad!"

Tony opened his mouth to speak, tell her he was being perfectly reasonable and anyways what about that time when she got so irrationally jealous over that girl he saved in Vegas, but Pepper cut him off.

"I'm not finished," she said. "I just have a question. Were you honestly jealous of Jason?"

"I was not _jealous_," Tony protested, because Tony Stark did not get _jealous_.

"Weren't you?" Pepper challenged.

"No!"

"Well, you shouldn't be," Pepper said. "There are, in fact, several _very good _reasons you should not be jealous of Jason. One: he's a friend. He's only ever been a friend. I never even crushed on him in school. Two: I _hate_ motorcycles. Jason gave me a ride once and all I wanted to do was hurl or faint or scream. Three: He's not smart like you. The only reason he passed calculus was because I tutored him in return for help with French. Four: His job is boring. Five: He's a Steelers fan. A _Steelers _fan, Tony! And six: Jason is gay."

It took a moment for all Pepper had said to process in Tony's mind, but when it did, he scrunched up his forehead in confusion. "But he seemed so… straight."

Pepper sighed. "Honestly, Tony, that's just offensive. See, _this_ is why I can't take you anywhere."

Tony sat down beside Pepper, all his previous anger forgotten and replaced with his usual self-assured nonchalance. "I didn't mean that to be offensive; I was just saying I couldn't tell." He paused. "So there's really no reason to be mad at me."

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "How about, 'You've been ignoring me entirely for the past few days'?"

"Besides that." Tony shot her a winning grin. Pepper rolled her eyes, but he could tell she was no longer upset.

She could never stay mad at him long.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: Wow, so many of you left reviews saying you were excited for Tony to get jealous! And a few of you even guessed Jason's secret; very perceptive of you. But you got your wish: a little Tony-jealousy. Not much, though, of course, because he's not the jealous type, don't you think?_

_So now that you've finally started getting the hang of sharing your lovely opinions with me (about time, too), why don't you leave me a review with your thoughts on Jason? Should he show up as a cameo in later chapters? Should he disappear and never be seen again? This is really up to you all! Tell me what you want!_


	15. Past

_A/N: Takes place before the Iron Man movies, so Tony and Pepper aren't together yet. This chapter was inspired by the song "Walk Away" by The Script._

**15: Past**

Heaving a longsuffering sigh, Pepper set aside the stack of documents she was filing, closed the metal drawers of her office filing cabinet, and pursed her lips in irritation. She knew she wouldn't be getting any work done the rest of the day; she couldn't very well concentrate with Tony breathing down her back. Metaphorically speaking, of course. In actuality, Tony wasn't breathing down her back at all. Instead, he was sitting rather proudly on her desk, his perfect butt crumpling the papers he sat on, legs swinging back and forth, rhythmically thumping against the desk drawers and driving Pepper up the wall.

"What do you _want_, Tony?" she asked, utterly exasperated, yet not looking up from her work. "I'm trying to get things done. You know, the sort of 'things' you're too lazy to do for yourself? What you _hired_ me to do?"

Tony leaned forward, and the instant he did, Pepper could smell the alcohol on his breath. He was drunk. Panic flooded through her as she lifted her eyes to meet his, seeing that they were somewhat out of focus. Not a good sign. She had to get out; she had to get away from Tony. She knew his habits of alcoholism and his rampant sex drive often coincided, and she didn't want to be around when they did.

"Maybe I hired you to spend more time with a beautiful woman," Tony said, surprisingly coherent for a drunk, although there were hints of a slight slur in his voice. Man, his breath stank. Yet another reason Pepper wanted to hightail it out of there.

"I'm not going to stick around and put up with this," Pepper said abruptly, gathering up her papers (the ones Tony wasn't sitting on, anyways) and her BlackBerry, clutching them protectively to her chest. She knew what it was like to deal with alcoholics. She wouldn't have taken the job as Tony's PA if she hadn't. "After all, I think I deserve to head home a little early for once in my life."

The threat of Pepper leaving seemed to sober Tony up. He grabbed her arm as she made for the door, overshooting a bit and accidentally grazing her chest. Once he had a firm grip on her upper arm, he spoke, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Wait, Pepper." He took a breath, slowly, deeply, and Pepper waited expectantly for him to speak, but he did not.

Keeping herself at a safe distance despite Tony's hold on her, Pepper prompted the billionaire. "What? What do you need?"

Something in the phrasing of her question must have struck a chord with Tony, because he winced and looked away. "Don't… don't say it like that."

Careful to keep her voice soft and slow, Pepper tilted her head in an attempt to reestablish eye contact. "Hey," she said. "Hey. Don't say what?"

"Don't… don't ask me what I need." That was all Tony said; he didn't elaborate. Pepper realized she was going to have to pull information out of him word by word.

"Why not?" This was tedious, but she had the feeling it was necessary to keep Tony calm. And she knew that keeping people calm was important when they were this drunk. She'd seen it before. She'd failed at it before.

"I…" Tony stood, took a step towards her, leaned into her until their faces were barely inches apart, their mouths almost touching. She could smell the alcohol more strongly even than before, and it repulsed her, but she did not pull away. In a few moments (although at the time it seemed like hours, days, eternities), Tony shut his eyes tightly and withdrew. His fingers were still wrapped around her arm, cutting off circulation, but still she didn't pull away.

"I need you to stay," Tony finally said. "I can't be alone. Not tonight."

Pepper scrunched up her nose in confusion. "What's different about tonight?"

There was a moment's pause as Tony hung his head, a few stray strands of hair sweeping across his forehead. He muttered something under his breath, his words too soft for Pepper to hear. "What was that?" she asked.

Tony's head snapped upward, his gaze meeting hers, eyes blazing. "It's the anniversary of my parents' death, dammit!" he shouted.

Startled, Pepper wrenched her arm from Tony's strangling grip, taking several steps in retreat before her back hit the wall. Her papers slipped from her hands, fluttering to a pile at her feet, as one hand flew up to shield her chest defensively. Her eyes were wide and her heart was beating rapidly in her chest.

Memories of her brother overwhelmed Pepper: of trying to talk sense into him, chasing him down after he escaped rehab the first and second times, staying with him during his recovery. Intervening when his daughter called in hysterics. Barging into the house to find him yelling, his wife cowering in a corner, and when Pepper tried to stop him…

She shuddered, forcing the memories away.

"I'm sorry," Tony immediately said. He made to move towards Pepper, reaching out, but she cringed and he remained still. "I'm upset. It's been nine years and still, every year, it's just…" He couldn't seem to finish his thought.

This side of Tony – the drunk, grief-stricken orphan with tears in his eyes – was one Pepper was utterly unfamiliar with. She'd only seen confident, arrogant, self-assured Tony.

"I can't be alone tonight, Pepper," Tony said quietly. "I can't… Don't leave me, Pepper. I can't…"

There was pain in Tony's eyes when they met hers, and Pepper couldn't bear it. Against her better judgment, she reached out and placed her hand on his cheek, meeting his eyes. "Let's just calm down, okay?" She took a breath, pressed a soft, chaste kiss to his cheek. "I'll stay, Tony. I'll stay." _I'll always stay._

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: A pretty short chapter, but I like it. Decided to give Pepper an alcoholic brother for a few reasons. It explains why she's so tolerant of Tony. After all, she's stuck with him all these years. And he's a difficult man to put up with._

_Please review! Do you like how I've been filling in Pepper's backstory? Do you hate it? Let me know!_


	16. Babysitting

_A/N: Inspired by my two-year-old cousin Avery. More Pepper backstory. I… don't love this chapter. But not enough not to post it. So here goes nothing._

**16: Babysitting**

_Poke._ "Up!" _Poke._ "Up!" _Poke._ "Up!"

Tony groaned, burrowing further into his pillow as the tendrils of sleep released him back into the waking world. Something was jabbing into his cheek repeatedly. He wanted it to go away. It took an immense effort, but he lifted the arm that was dangling off the edge of the bed and swatted at the source of the prodding. His hand swiped at nothing but air; he muttered incoherently.

"Go 'way," he managed to mumble, squeezing his eyes tight in a desperate effort to drift back into the comforting warmth of unconsciousness. "I 'n't w'nna g'dup."

Expecting a harsh, "Get that perfect butt out of bed, you lazy genius," Tony was surprised when no one responded to his complaints. He strained his ears; had he imagined someone poking him? Perhaps he'd still been dreaming.

Something padded away on small feet; now Tony knew he was _definitely_ hearing things. "Screw you, Pepper," he said, raising his voice to speak to his girlfriend, who he suspected was in the kitchen, making breakfast, as usual. "You made me watch that Potter movie and now I'm imagining house-elves in my bedroom."

"I forced you to watch _nothing_," Pepper said, her voice drifting through the open bedroom door. "You wanted to cuddle; I wanted to watch a movie."

"I wanted to watch a movie too!" Tony protested, rolling over onto his back and rubbing his eyes open. With great reluctance, he sat up, put a t-shirt on with his boxers, and ran a hand through his mussed-up hair.

"You wanted to watch _The Matrix_ for the four hundredth time," Pepper replied in her I-am-not-amused voice.

"I would've settled for _The Dark Knight_."

"And people wonder why you dress up as a robot vigilante every other day," she said sarcastically.

Sliding his bare feet across the cold floor, Tony emerged from the master bedroom, still blinking blearily as the world came into focus. "So what you're saying is, I'm a cross between Batman and one of the machines from _The Matrix_?"

"Don't flatter yourself. The state you're in, you look more like the Joker." Pepper put a plate of eggs and bacon in front of him, which Tony eyed hungrily before starting to wolf it down.

"I should be offended by that," Tony said through a mouthful of breakfast. Pepper glared at him for his poor manners.

"You're a sight to see in the mornings, that's for sure," Pepper said, making him a cup of coffee. "I hope Dani woke you up gently," she added, placing the steaming mug before him. Tony gulped it down gratefully, blinking as the scalding liquid slid down his throat.

"You what?" he asked, having no idea what she was talking about.

Pepper scrunched up her nose. "Dani? The little girl I sent in to wake you up?"

"_That's_ who was poking me!" Tony exclaimed, glad to know he wasn't going crazy. "Wait… why is there a small child in our house?"

Reaching down to some unseen thing on the floor behind the counter, Pepper picked up a little girl with coppery hair and – oh gosh – Pepper's eyes. Tony choked on his bacon. "Do you… Is she _yours_?" Did Pepper have a kid? Was it even _possible_? No, surely she'd have mentioned by now…

"Obviously not," Pepper said, placing the kid on the edge of the counter and handing her an orange and purple sippy cup. "This is my niece. One of my nieces. Maybe I haven't told you about them, though; I always just assumed you wouldn't listen."

Once again, Tony felt he should be offended, but he knew it was the truth. He was a terrible listener. "I'm listening now."

Pepper considered him a moment before setting down the clean dishes she was taking out of the dishwasher and leaning on the counter between them. "So you know my brother Sean?" she asked.

Did Tony know Pepper's brother Sean? He did. It was a delicate topic for Pepper, much like Tony's parents were for him. She hadn't even mentioned him until they'd become a couple. Tony still remembered how it had come up.

They'd been sleeping together one night. Tony had been staring at her in the darkness, marveling at how beautiful she looked with her hair mussed up like that and her lipstick smeared all over her face, when he saw something he'd never noticed before. There was a thin scar stretching across Pepper's waist. Pepper noticed him looking at it with concern and had tried to inch away, but Tony had stopped her with a meaningful look in his eyes.

"What's that?" he asked, tracing it gently with his finger. Pepper had shivered under his touch.

"It's nothing," she'd tried to say, skirting around the subject, but Tony was stubborn and insistent and eventually she gave in.

"My… brother gave it to me."

Tony's forehead had crinkled in concern. "Your brother?" He hadn't known Pepper had a brother. He felt kind of bad about that. How much else did he not know about her? Certainly a lot.

"Sean," Pepper had explained. "He… he's an alcoholic. He… I don't want to talk about it."

Tony had finally gotten the story out of Pepper. She'd cried through parts of it, but he got the general gist.

Sean had started drinking in high school. He was on the football team, really popular, and went to parties all the time. When he graduated college (he'd gotten in on a football scholarship), he found himself unsuited for the workforce and was unable to get a job. His alcoholism became a habit, an addiction. When his family had found out, they sent him to rehab.

After rehab, he had seemed to be healed. He got a job, got married, and had a daughter. But then the recession hit, he got laid off, and he had relapsed.

That was when Pepper had gotten the scar. She'd been at work one day when she'd gotten a call from Sean's wife, Kathy. When she picked up, she heard Sean's daughter, Courtney, crying and pleading for Pepper to come and help.

Pepper came running, burst into Sean's house to find him screaming at Kathy. And when she'd gotten between them, he had shoved her… straight into the corner of their kitchen table.

After that, Sean had been sober for several years. He and Kathy patched up their marriage. Tony hadn't heard anything about Sean since then.

"I remember him. Why?"

"This is his second daughter, Daniela," Pepper explained. "She's two. Kathy dropped her off this morning. We're taking care of her until Sean's trial is over."

Trial? "Did he relapse again?"

Pepper bit her lip and averted her gaze, but not before Tony saw the tears welling up in her eyes. "He… it's not alcohol this time. He couldn't afford to keep that habit up even if he wanted to."

It didn't take much brainpower for Tony to deduce what this meant. "Cocaine, then?"

Glancing at Daniela, Pepper nodded. "Yeah."

"What'd he do to get arrested?" Tony asked.

"He… oh, Tony, it's awful." Pepper turned back to the dishes, loading them forcefully into the cabinets and drawers. "I don't want to talk about it. Not… not with Dani right here."

Tony didn't press the topic. Instead, he turned to the two-year-old slurping juice from her sippy cup happily. A smile spread across his features despite himself. He made a point of not spending much time around children, assuming they were annoying and unwanted and would only get in the way. But up close… this one was kind of cute.

"So… what are we going to do?" he asked. Pepper raised an eyebrow.

"You don't have to do anything," she replied. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of a kid on my own. I do it every day with you."

"No, I want to help," Tony insisted, taking Dani into his arms. The two-year-old dropped her sippy cup and burst into tears. Tony panicked. "Oh crap, what did I do?"

Pepper rolled her eyes. "She dropped her sippy cup, moron. Or maybe she just doesn't like you." She finished with the dishes, shut the dishwasher, picked up the cup and returned it to Dani. Dani reached out to it, grinned with her mouthful of tiny teeth, and finished it up. "No, it was the cup. She likes you fine. Hold her a minute while I clean up your dishes?"

"'Course," Tony replied. "Um…"

"Bounce her up and down, little kids like that," Pepper suggested. "Twirl her around, hold her upside down. Stuff like that. Don't be so boring."

Tony did as Pepper suggested, twirling in a circle and bouncing up and down. Dani looked up at him with this big, blue, Pepper eyes. "Pepper, she looks exactly like you. It's creeping me out."

"Yeah, my brother and I look pretty similar. But she's got her mother's face."

Dani reached up with two tiny arms, her fingers clenching and unclenching as she reached for who-knew-what. "Up!" she exclaimed. Tony stared at her a moment before realizing what she wanted, and lifted her up to sit on his shoulders. "Yay!"

Enjoying Dani's smiley attitude and adorable little voice, Tony spun around a little more. Dani wrapped her arms around his forehead, clinging to him and squealing with glee.

Tony plucked Dani off his shoulders, holding her upside down and swinging her about before depositing her gently on the sofa. She collapsed in a fit of giggles. Tony tipped himself over the back of the couch, landing upside-down next to her.

The blood rushed to Tony's head, and his shirt slipped down to reveal his stomach and chest. Dani's eyes widened when his shirt revealed the glowing blue arc reactor. She leapt to her feet and called over to Pepper, a hint of nervousness in her voice. "Pep! Him glowy!"

Pepper laughed and approached the two of them. Dani was standing on the couch next to Tony, pointing accusingly at Tony's arc reactor. "Why him glowy?"

"It's… um, that's Tony's battery," Pepper attempted to explain.

Dani pursed her lips, staring at Tony some more. "Batty?" she repeated, crouching over Tony and prodding the arc reactor with her finger.

"Yeah," Pepper said, sounding a bit more confident with her answer. "Yeah, his battery. It, um, it's blue!"

"Boo," Dani repeated. Tony stifled a chuckle at the two-year-old's mangled English.

"She's pretty smart to already know her colors," Tony observed. He turned to Dani. "What color is my shirt?" he asked, sitting up and pointing to his t-shirt.

"Wed," Dani said. "It wed. Pepper sirt white. My sirt lello."

Dani was right. Indeed, Tony's shirt was red, Pepper wore a white tank top, and Dani herself wore a white top with a duck on it.

"Wow," Tony said. "That's very good. Do you know what's on your shirt?"

Dani looked down at her chest, studying her shirt. "Ducky," she finally decided.

"That's right!" He paused. "What sound does a duck make?"

"Quack, quack!" Dani exclaimed. Tony laughed out loud, thoroughly amused. He turned to Pepper, eyes shining with mirth.

"Pepper, are all kids like this?"

"Like what?" Pepper asked with only mild interest.

Tony considered his word choice a moment. What was he trying to say? He wasn't certain. "Like… I don't know." He paused. "Are they all so… funny?"

Pepper grinned. "Kids are pretty hilarious, yeah." Her BlackBerry buzzed in her pocket. She whipped it out. "I have to take this call. Watch Dani?"

"Of course."

Tony was lying on the floor, letting Dani climb all over him, holding her up with her legs as she spread her arms out wide like an airplane. After the "airplane ride" was done, Dani collapsed on Tony's stomach and wrapped her arms around him.

The little girl's big blue eyes looked into Tony with a silly seriousness only a child could employ. "You fun, Tony," she said, a bit breathless. "I love you."

"Well, Daniela, I love you too," Tony said, smiling sincerely. "You're a pretty loveable girl you know." He paused, struck with a thought. "Your aunt Pepper is too."

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	17. Hurt

_A/N: Post-Avengers._

**17: Hurt**

"That _jerk_." Pepper swore under her breath as she pulled the collar of her gray peacoat up to shield her neck from the cold. Even during this time of year, it was normally so warm in Los Angeles. Figured an atypical cold front would set in the one night she decided to walk home.

_Home._ Tony had finally made good on his promise to help Pepper move out of her old apartment, meaning now she was properly living with him. Like a real couple.

To think that she, Pepper Potts, who thought of herself as unimpressive in every conceivable way, was in an actual relationship with genius-turned superhero Tony Stark. It never failed to amaze her.

Except, perhaps, tonight. Tonight, Tony could be the freaking President and Pepper still wouldn't have given half a damn. She was furious, she was _beyond_ furious. She'd put up with a lot from him, oh yes, but there was a point when even Pepper Potts couldn't take it anymore. And she had had it up to _here_ with Tony's intolerable behavior.

"Selfish, arrogant, entitled son of a—" Pepper cut off when she felt her BlackBerry vibrate in the back pocket of her jeans. Teeth chattering, she pulled it out.

"_Please tell me where you are. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."_

Huffing in annoyance, Pepper pocketed the device. If Tony thought he could get off that easy, well, then he had another thing coming.

The phone buzzed again. She chose to ignore it this time. Nothing Tony said could convince her to forgive him. Not just yet. She would, eventually, accept his apology. Pepper Potts had never been one to hold a grudge. But for now, just for now, she felt it completely within her right to fume for a little bit.

Pepper waited at the crosswalk, impatiently pressing the button at the corner to let her go. At last, the "walk" signal flashed on. She crossed in front of an impatient taxi, flicking the ride, honking driver off as she passed.

As her anger began to settle into something much less volatile, Pepper slowly became aware of her surroundings. She had a mental map of Los Angeles engraved in her mind from always having to rush Tony back and forth between appointments and meetings, and had subconsciously been taking the shortest route between the restaurant Tony had taken her out to and Tony's house.

The breeze caressed Pepper's cheek with its icy fingers, but the shiver that went down her spine had nothing to do with the cold. The shortcut she'd taken – the quickest way from Point A to Point B – was sending her straight through some of the sketchier parts of the city. She knew where she was going – it wasn't that she was lost, no, that wasn't it at all – but she was going nowhere good.

Shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat and keeping her head down, Pepper pressed on. She suddenly wished she hadn't been too proud to ride home with Tony, even if he had humiliated her in front of dozens of people. She quickened her pace, sending shifty glances at every shadowy space, every darkened alleyway.

The shadows seemed to stretch forward with teeth and claws, reaching for Pepper to pull her into oblivion. She cursed every horror movie she'd ever seen, every thriller she'd let Tony pressure her into watching with him. The moon seemed all too dim, the streetlights all too far apart.

Pepper scolded herself for being so paranoid; it wasn't as though she hadn't been in worse situations. She was Virginia Potts, and she had braved far worse than walking down a city street alone at night.

All the same, she figured she was better safe than sorry. _I'm alone, it's dark, and if I was mugged or raped or murdered no one would know. What can I do to make this situation slightly less terrifying?_ In one swift motion, she pulled out her phone and dialed the first number that wasn't Tony's that came to mind.

"Mm, 'lo?" Saffron's familiar voice soothed Pepper to some degree, and she congratulated herself on her successful contingency plan.

"Hey, sorry to wake you; I know it's late," Pepper apologized, turning a corner a bit more confidently than before and making her way through her mental map of the city.

"No 's alright," Saffron mumbled sleepily. Pepper smiled fondly at the former Londoner's British lilt that came out when she wasn't paying conscious attention to her speaking habits. "'S just falling asleep in some guy's apartment. Time I left anyways. He was bloody disappointing in bed." Pepper chuckled. "So, why're you calling, Gin?"

In any other circumstances, Pepper would be put off by Saffron using her much less preferred nickname. It seemed she was someone different to everyone she knew: Pep to Tony, Gin to Saffron, Ginny to her dad, Virginia to her mom, Pepper to Jason, Miss Potts to Jarvis. Honestly. But in the present moment, she couldn't bring herself to care; she was far too relieved to have someone to talk to as she navigated the shady streets of Los Angeles well after midnight.

"I… can't really explain right," Pepper admitted. "I know this is confusing, and I'll explain it all to you tomorrow, but for now I just need you to not hang up, okay?"

Saffron hummed understandingly. "Trying to avoid someone? I've used that trick before."

"Yeah, something like that," Pepper lied. _No, nothing like that at all._

"Got your back, Gin," Saffron said. This was unimaginably reassuring in ways Pepper knew her friend didn't understand. It didn't matter; as long as she had something to comfort her until she felt safe again. "So should I just… talk?"

"Have at it," Pepper said. "I'll do my best to pretend I care. I've gotten good at it, listening to Tony go on about self-sustaining, clean energy. You know, like he does."

"Please, Gin, you're putting me to sleep just talking about it," Saffron said. "Okay, well, so I met this guy…"

"The one you just slept with?" Pepper guessed.

"Hm? No, not him," Saffron said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to sleep with a new guy every other night. In some ways she reminded Pepper of how Tony used to be. "No, different bloke. This one's just a distraction. He bought me a drink. You know how easy I am."

Pepper snorted, eyes flickering around her before crossing the street. "Do I ever."

"Anyways, so this guy – not the one I slept with, the other one – so I'm making my rounds, and there's this new guy working at the Oscorp building, at the front desk, you know? And he's good-looking and all, but he's not at all the type who'd look twice at someone like me, right? No piercings, no tattoos, natural hair color, upstanding job… all the bells and whistles. But he gives me this look, and I tell 'im what I've come for, and he nods and smiles in all the right places, real polite. Usual stuff. But wouldn't you know, when I leave, I swear I felt him _watch_ me walk away. In that way guys do when they're into you. So the next day I'm there—"

Saffron goes on like this for a while, pausing every so often as Pepper offers her two cents before continuing to describe her various encounters with Oscorp Guy.

"—And he says to me, 'Call me Kevin.' And that just about did it, really, I mean, that is just such a _normal_ name! Not Scar or Bones or Fang or Spyder or any of these flakes I've been with, just _Kevin_. And it hits me that there's this perfectly typical guy who's actually into me, and honestly, I could just die! I don't even remember the last time—"

Pepper's conversation was interrupted abruptly by the feeling of something cold being pressed against her throat and a strong hand grasping her shoulder and forcing her to be still. Saffron continued prattling on, of course, completely oblivious, but Pepper felt herself overtaken by dread.

"Don't say a word," a stranger's voice whispered in her ear. The hand that had a hold of her shoulder crept down her side, snatching her wallet and claiming it. Long, thin fingers made quick work of her coat buttons, removing her outer layer as the threat of the knife against her neck kept Pepper silent. "Now say goodbye to your friend. Don't give yourself away, sweetie, and I'll let you go, no fuss."

Seeing no alternative, Pepper cut Saffron off. She struggled to keep the panic out of her voice as she spoke. "Saff, hey, I gotta go. I want to hear about Kevin, I swear, but…" She choked back tears. "Talk later okay?"

She barely heard Saffron's "Okay, bye" before her BlackBerry was snatched from her hand.

"Good girl. Now close your eyes and count to twenty."

Obediently, Pepper squeezed her eyes shut. "One. Two."

Her counting was interrupted by a fist in her face. She saw stars, stumbling back and hitting the outer wall of a decrepit building with equal force before smacking against the pavement. Her shoulder was in agony; the knife must have sliced it as she fallen. She moaned, feeling certain this was a nightmare, knowing it wasn't.

Footsteps retreated swiftly. Her consciousness faded. She just knew that if she passed out here, she'd be raped, or murdered, or wake up naked in an icy bathtub with one less kidney than before. She had to… she had to…

A payphone! Thanking God, Pepper dragged herself over to it, wincing and feeling hot tears slide down her stone-cold cheeks. Her frigid fingers fumbled with the numbers. A wave of darkness washed over her.

Pepper collapsed into a bruised and bloody heap, the phone dangling uselessly from its cord.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: …The End. I could've finished this, but (a) it's already over 1,500 words, and (b) I'm a sadistic, heartless twat. But I also happen to be extremely easy to influence, and the more you review, the faster I'll write the next chapter!_


	18. Bleed

_A/N: Over 100 reviews, guys! That's just unbelievable! Thank you all so much! This chapter is a continuation of the last. I hope it lives up to your expectations! Just a side note, I was in such a rush to post this that my editing was not very thorough. If there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, or anything just doesn't make sense, let me know please._

**18: Bleed**

Driving home from the restaurant, Tony sped through several red lights and disregarded basic traffic laws. There weren't enough cars on the road for it to make a difference, which was fortunate. Tony wasn't feeling particularly amiable, to say the least, and a run-in with the LAPD would only make matters worse.

"I don't know why she's so upset," Tony was saying under his breath, his voice deceptively nonchalant. "I was only teasing. If anything, _I_ ended up being the one who looked ridiculous. I can't be held responsible for the fact that she has no sense of humor."

Arriving home, Tony slammed his car door shut and stormed through the garage. He jammed his house key into the lock and shoved the door open, shutting it behind him with such force it shook the walls.

"Welcome home, sir," Jarvis said, automatically turning on the lights for him. "Should I leave the door unlocked for Miss Potts?"

"No, Jarvis, Pepper didn't ride home with me tonight," Tony said, perhaps with a tad more bitterness than the AI deserved. He stripped off his jacket and flung it in the general direction of the coat closet, stomping past the kitchen to the master bedroom, muttering colorful curses the whole way.

His shoes were similarly discarded, unceremoniously joined by his shirt and pants in a pile on the bedroom floor. But he didn't feel like sleeping yet, despite the lateness of the hour, so he changed into loungewear and emerged into the sitting room. As a distraction, Tony turned the television on but kept the volume low so he could listen for Pepper coming through the front door. When she eventually did, he could then tell her what an idiot he'd been, tell her what an idiot _she'd_ been, and then probably make love or something. He wasn't in the habit of planning that far ahead.

Minutes passed. Eleven, to be exact. Pepper hadn't responded to his text. He sent another, just in case her lack of response was because she hadn't heard her phone go off and not because she was ignoring it. The latter was admittedly a far more likely explanation, but he figured he ought to cover his bases. He pretended this was due to an unprecedented adherence to the old adage, "Better safe than sorry," because the alternative – that he was worried and wanted to hear from Pepper – made him feel like a lovestruck teenage girl. The type who listened to boy bands and thought the world was ending if her crush didn't respond to her text right away.

"_I really am sorry,"_ his second text read. He wasn't sure if he meant it or not. He'd think about that later.

He paused before adding, _"I was an idiot."_ She'd like to hear that. And it was a way of admitting he was wrong without, well, admitting he was wrong. Sort of a relationship loophole. And Tony did love loopholes.

"_So are you, but that's beside the point,"_ Tony added. He paused, erased that last bit (it wouldn't help his case, even if it was true), and sent the message.

The clock ticked in time with Tony's pulse. Tony's leg shook impatiently, nervously. He sighed loudly, tilted his head back, and tapped out another message:

"_Did you get a taxi? I'll pay for it if you did. Are you safe? Do you want me to pick you up somewhere?"_

Feeling truly pathetic after sending that last message, Tony threw his phone across the room, careful to aim for the plush carpet and not the unforgiving hardwood floor.

Determined to repress, or at the very least ignore, his urge to contact Pepper, Tony turned the television volume up a few notches, tuning in to the Lakers game just in time for the start of the fourth quarter.

For about twenty minutes (twenty-four, to be precise; his eyes kept flicking back to the wall clock just to the left of the television), Tony pretended to give a damn who won the game. All the while, his mind insisted on torturing him with visions of everything that could possibly happen to Pepper on her way home. Shot. Mugged. Abducted by aliens (after the events in New York with the Avengers, it was a distinct possibility, albeit not a likely one).

He knew it was ridiculous. He really did. Pepper was capable of looking after herself; she was capable of looking after _him_, for goodness' sake. And she'd never had any problems being alone _before_ they'd gotten together. Why should she suddenly become a helpless damsel-in-distress now?

It had been over half an hour when Tony finally caved and snatched his phone off the floor. He dialed Pepper's number and hesitated only a moment before pressing "call."

"This is a Pepper Potts, please leave a message!" _Beep._

Tony hung up. He hadn't really expected Pepper to answer. All the same… she should have been home by then.

Feeling only a slight pang of guilt for encroaching upon his girlfriend's privacy, Tony asked Jarvis to access Pepper's phone records. "Has she made any calls within the last half-hour?" Maybe she wasn't in danger. She'd probably called a friend and asked to spend the night, in which case Jarvis would be able to tell him everything he needed to know.

"Miss Potts contacted a Saffron Day at 1:02AM," Jarvis said. "The duration of this call was eleven minutes, fifty-two seconds. Shall I give you Miss Day's mobile number?"

"Yeah." Tony dialed the number as Jarvis dictated it to him and called Pepper's former roommate, Saffron.

"Hello? Who's this?" came the unfamiliar voice on the other end.

"Tony Stark," Tony said quickly, eager to find out where Pepper was. "Listen, is—"

"Tony Stark?" Saffron repeated, incredulity plain in her voice. "No way!"

"Yes, I'm rich and famous, it's great; I was wondering if there's any chance Pepper is with you?" Tony said this all in one breath.

"Huh? No," Saffron said, sounding genuinely confused. "No, I haven't seen Pepper in ages. Talked to her though, just a few minutes ago, actually. Why? She's not with you?"

Tony felt a pang of worry. If Pepper wasn't with Saffron… "You say you talked to her. Did she say anything about spending the night somewhere else?" he wondered, desperate.

"No…" Saffron paused. "Wait, so you're saying you don't know where Pepper is? She didn't tell you anything? She didn't tell _anyone_ anything? That's not like her."

"It isn't," Tony agreed. "So she didn't give you any clue as to where she was? What she was doing?"

There was a silence on the other end before Saffron spoke, a bit hesitantly. "She _was_ acting a bit strange," she admitted. "She sounded upset. And she didn't say why she was calling, just that she needed me to talk, or something. I assumed she was using the phone call as an excuse to avoid some bloke coming on to her. And…" Saffron trailed off.

"And?" Tony prompted.

"Well… I may be reading into things a bit much, but it seemed like she ended the call rather abruptly."

Tony sighed, annoyed. That told him nothing. "Thanks," he said anyways, trying not to sound like he thought this was a complete and utter waste of time. He hung up before Saffron to get in another word. He needed to think.

Then again, Tony Stark had always been the "jump first, look later" type. And he'd already stuck his nose in Pepper's call records; he may as well go all-in on this "invasion of privacy" business.

He spoke again to Jarvis. "Jarvis, I need you to locate where Pepper was when she called Saffron Day. And get my suit ready." If he was indeed going to swoop in and save the day, he was going to do it in style. Iron Man to the rescue.

"Right away, sir."

. . .

Voices. Pepper groaned. Her head was throbbing; she ached all over. _I think I'm dead._ She certainly felt like it.

Not yet willing to force her eyes open, Pepper strained her ears to make out the words that were drifting over her.

"Gross, Danny, don't go near her! She's probably been dead for hours. You could get rabies from touching something like that." That was a girl's voice, probably a teenage girl. Pepper didn't recognize it.

"You can't get rabies from a corpse, moron," another voice – a boy's – said. "And I don't think she's dead. Besides, look at her. Doesn't she look familiar? Like I saw her on TV or something…"

"Celebrities don't live around here. That's how we afford to live here, stupid."

"No, Danny's right," said a third voice, another boy. "She's definitely familiar. I've seen her before."

The first boy – Danny – cursed loudly. "That's Iron Man's girl! The ginger one! That's her!"

"No way it's not, are you sure?" the girl asked.

"I think he's right," the unnamed boy said. "Man, she's even hotter in person, even if she is dead… Yeah, I'd tap that."

"Kade, that is just _messed up_."

A fourth voice – this time a familiar one – interrupted the three bickering teenagers. "Lingering at the scene of a crime? Rookie mistake."

Unable to focus, Pepper was assaulted by several sounds at once: alarmed shouts, the thudding of footsteps making a hasty retreat, and the sound of metal against pavement.

Pepper's consciousness once again faded out.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: I know, I'm awful! I really did mean for the rest of this mini-plot to fit in one chapter. I figured you would all come after me with torches and pitchforks if I left you with another cliffhanger. But I just had to end it here! It got too long! (Don't trample me!)_


	19. Consequences

_A/N: I promised it wouldn't take long! I swear this is the end of that particular mini-plot. No more cliffhangers (for now…). And if any of you are wondering what caused Tony and Pepper's argument in the first place… I have no idea. That's why I made a point of not mentioning it. So if you want, make up your own version of events. If any of you think of something particularly clever, I'll feature it in the next chapter. Read and review!_

**19: Consequences**

Once, when Tony was seven years old, he had put a live frog in his nanny's mattress. The subsequent telling-off (after the nanny, his fourth so far, had loudly declared her resignation) was the angriest young Tony had ever seen his mother. She'd given him a time-out, which he considered by far the worst punishment, seeing as it forced the hyperactive little genius to sit with no one and nothing to entertain him for long stretches of time. On this particular occasion, he had been told to sit in the corner of his father's study for a whole hour and not talk.

When the boredom had threatened to drive young Tony mad – that is, after about five, maybe ten minutes – he resulted to desperate measures. He chose the most brightly colored book in his father's boring old bookcase and threw it open on his lap, coughing as a puff of dust rose up from between the delicate pages.

It was a bright red thesaurus (Tony had always been fond of the color red). Despite being the dullest thing he had ever read, it managed to stave off Tony's desire to throw himself off a cliff out of sheer boredom. From that day forth, Tony had read it cover to cover several times over during many a time-out in the study.

Twenty-some years later, a much older Tony was gently laying Pepper's unconscious body on the sofa after flying her home. He stepped out of the room for a moment to remove his suit before returning. In the light of the overhead ceiling fan, he could see Pepper much better than he could in the dark alley he'd found her in, and she looked… awful. He was forcibly reminded of the time-outs of his youth as a multitude of unbidden adjectives assaulted his mind:

_Limp. Lifeless. Delicate. Feeble. Defenseless. Weak. Comatose. Empty. Vulnerable. Frail._

He shook his head to clear out the unwanted words and sat down beside Pepper, laying her head in his lap.

Her arms were freezing. They felt like marble, and upon closer inspection, her lips had a bluish tint from the cold. Tony draped a blanket over her and inspected her further.

Blood. There was blood, a lot of blood, and he panicked before realizing most of it was coming from her nose and a shallow gash on her forehead. Head wounds, he knew, bled a lot. He reached for the box of Kleenex on the coffee table and tried his best to stem the bleeding.

Moving on, Tony assessed the rest of the damage. A bruise was forming around her left eye – given time, it would become an impressive shade of purple-y green, but for now it was just vaguely magenta – and her left arm was scraped up. Beyond that, it didn't look too bad. But he was no medical expert. _Should I take her to the hospital?_ he wondered, absently stroking her hair.

No, if he took her to the hospital he would at some point be forced to let her out of his sight. All the same, he needed someone with more medical experience than he had (which was to say, any amount of medical experience at all)…

"Wait," he said aloud to himself. "Isn't Bruce in San Francisco?"

Before the logical part of his brain could argue that it took several hours to reach Los Angeles from San Francisco, Tony had dialed Bruce's number and was waiting impatiently for him to pick up.

A tired voice answered: "What the hell, Tony? It's two in the morning; this better be important."

Tony rolled his eyes. "You haven't been asleep; it would've taken you longer to pick up if you had," he said. "Anyways, yes, it's important. I need your help. Could I fly you here?"

"What, in your plane? Tony, you know I make a point of avoiding flying, pressurized metal death traps."

"No," Tony said, looking down at Pepper's body in his arms. "I mean actually _fly_."

Bruce sighed. "You know I hate heights." He paused. "This is an emergency?"

"Yeah. Kind of urgent."

Another heavy sigh. "Fine. Alright. I'll come."

. . .

"I KNOW!"

It was Tony's bellow that woke Pepper the second time. She tried to force her eyes open, but her lids felt heavy and fluttered shut. Suddenly aware of herself, she grimaced; her head still hurt, though not as sharply as before. Pepper Potts was no doctor, but this seemed like a good sign.

"And people tell me _I_ have anger management issues," another familiar voice muttered. "Wait, I think she's coming to…"

Pepper moaned, forced her eyes open, and then immediately snapped them shut against the bright lights in the room. She was laying on Tony's couch, she realized, and covered in a warm blanket. That was good.

"Dim the lights," the second voice directed. Pepper heard the flick of a light-switch and opened her eyes a third time.

Bruce Banner was kneeling in front of her on the floor, and Tony joined him to look down at Pepper with concern.

"Nngh," she managed, oh-so-eloquently. "What happened?"

"We were hoping you could tell us that," Tony said with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

Pepper crinkled her nose and concentrated on pushing past the fog in her brain in order to recall what had happened.

The memories came slowly, but one triggered another until she the whole affair. She winced just thinking about it. What a state she must be in…

"I… I was walking home," she began, and right off Tony narrowed his eyes.

"You _walked_ home?" he repeated, somehow managing to sound simultaneously amazed and condescending. "You didn't think to get a taxi or call a friend?"

Pepper glared right back at him, sitting up slightly and ignoring the dizzying sensation this gave her. "I know it was stupid, but if you hadn't been such a dick we wouldn't be in this situation, so I guess we both messed up."

At this point in their relationship, Tony knew better than to contradict her when she got like this, though it was obvious he sorely wanted to.

"As I was saying," she continued, looking at Bruce because she wasn't sure she could stand to look at Tony just now without yelling at him, "I was walking home. I got mugged. I didn't see who it was, so don't bother asking," she added quickly, anticipating Tony's question.

"The guy pressed a knife to my throat and took my phone, coat, and wallet. And then he punched me in the face when my eyes were closed. My head hit the wall and then the floor. I sort of came to in time to hear three teenagers talking about how they thought I was dead, and then I think you," she looked pointedly at Tony, "Got there in your Iron Man suit and scared them off." She paused. "That's all I know. How bad is it?"

It was clear that this query was directed at Bruce, who knew a great deal more than Tony about medical matters (and about being battered and bruised). Bruce answered, "Frankly, you're lucky you don't have a more severe concussion. The fact that you're speaking and can remember clearly means the damage can't be that bad. I'll be honest with you, though, you look a mess." He then gave her a sort of half-smile. "Then again, I've looked worse." He pulled out a briefcase containing his first-aid and other medical supplies. "I'm going to have to run a few tests just to make sure you're okay," he said.

After testing how Pepper's brain was holding up after the blow it had taken, Bruce was satisfied that Pepper was making a full recovery. "So most of the damage is physical, not mental," he told her in his matter-of-fact voice. "You've got a black eye and there'll definitely be bruising on the back of your head, but it's not bleeding or swelling so that's a good sign. You also scraped your arm up, and your forehead was bleeding when Tony found you, but I've cleaned and bandaged it. Oh, and you had a bloody nose, but it stopped on its own. Tony cleaned it off."

"Thanks," Pepper said with an attempted smile.

All this time, Tony had been alternating between glaring and looking on with concern.

"Hey Bruce," he said, his voice quieter than usual, "You really saved the day, but do you mind if Pepper and I…?" He trailed off. The quiet side of Tony was starting to unnerve Pepper, but Bruce acquiesced and soon it was just the two of them.

Before Pepper could think, Tony's mouth had joined with hers in a hot, searing kiss. His hands were on either side of her face as he seemed to breathe in the taste and smell of her. Pepper leaned into him, a part of her wanting to relinquish control and forget the events of that night had ever happened, lose herself in Tony, but she was never the type of girl to give up that easily.

Pepper wrenched herself out of Tony's grip, glaring at him fiercely. "_No_, Tony," she said sternly. "That's not how this is going to happen. We are going to talk about this. Scratch that – _I_ am going to _yell_ about this. And _you_ are going to _listen_."

"Yell at _me_?" Tony said, eyebrows raised. "Pepper, you should count yourself lucky if I ever let you out of my sight again."

Insulted, Pepper crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, ignoring the pain that shot up her left arm as she did so. "This isn't the Middle Ages, Tony, and I am not some fair maiden in need of rescue," she argued.

"Oh really?" Tony said. "Could've fooled me."

"So I got mugged! It happens! I hardly think it justifies you turning into my overprotective guardian." Pepper did not need or want Tony watching her every move. If he had his way, he'd probably install a tracking device somewhere in or on her person. Not that he needed to, as evidenced by the events of earlier that night. He'd found her surprisingly quickly. He would have to ask him about that later.

"It does if you're going to continue to do stupid things without thinking about the consequences," Tony said. Pepper raised her eyebrows.

"Hm, I wonder who that sounds like?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Tony shot to his feet, and she did the same, trying to hide the sense of vertigo that briefly overwhelmed her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"It means that _you_ of all people have no right to be lecturing me on personal safety and the consequences of my actions!"

"I have every right!" Tony insisted. "I'm your boyfriend!"

"Yes, Tony," Pepper said coldly. "For the time being, you _are_ my boyfriend."

" 'For the time being'?" Tony repeated. Pepper ignored him and the flash of panic she saw briefly flicker across his eyes.

"But before you were my boyfriend, you were an irresponsible idiot who wouldn't hesitate to take a flying leap off a cliff if he thought it would be fun!" Tony glowered. Score one for Pepper Potts.

"I'm not like that anymore," Tony argued.

"Like what? Like you were before? The Tony who slept with a different woman every night, only put forth any effort if he was in the mood, drank himself into a stupor on a daily basis, and gave absolutely zero thought to the consequences of his actions?" Pepper said, doing her best to hit all of Tony's weak spots without striking too far below the belt (she wasn't completely heartless). "No, I'll admit, you're not the same. You're not even the same Tony who decided if he was going to die, he was going to offend as many people, break as many things, and drink as much alcohol as possible without telling his confused and worried personal assistant the reason for his downright scary behavior. But you _are_ the Tony who dresses himself up in armor and flies off into dangerous situations, leaving his girlfriend behind to watch the whole thing on the news and hope he doesn't _die_!"

Not pausing to let Tony defend himself, Pepper went on. "I knew what I was getting into with you, Tony. But I don't want you to tell me I'm disregarding my safety when you do the same on a much grander scale and a much more regular basis!"

She was finally done. She stepped back and took a breath, and Tony picked up right where she left off.

"Dammit, Pepper, you think I don't worry about you too?" Tony shouted.

Before Pepper could register what Tony had said, his lips were on hers again, his hands taking hold of her hips and pressing them to his. In a clash of tongues and teeth, Tony showed Pepper just how frustrated he was, and when he'd rendered her utterly breathless, and she could tell he was about to take it a step further, her head hit a lamp and she cried out in pain. Tony reluctantly relinquished her, keeping his arms encircled loosely around her waist.

That was as far as their furious romance got them that night, due to Pepper's current state. Both of them would still have a few choice things to say come morning, but that night was the last time Pepper ever put herself in danger needlessly, which she knew Tony would count as a success.

They fell asleep in each other's arms, Tony clinging to her like he was afraid she might disappear. And if he had stayed up any later, he would have heard Pepper's final words before she too fell asleep:

"Tony, why can't you just tell me how you feel?"

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: …This chapter does a very poor job of convincing you not to hate me, considering that ending._

_Anyways, Bruce cameo? Good? Awful? I like the amiable dynamic there. Also more Saffron, hope you don't hate her. She's kind of a slut, but I think that's why I like her. And I'm a sucker for the bad girl / good guy romance (the guy I mentioned in the previous chapter, Kevin, is who I'm referring to here). Saffron and Kevin definitely won't play major roles, just ways to tie the plot together and fill in gaps and such._

_But OCs aside, how's the romance level been? I don't really write smut, but if you want me to up the sex factor a bit (without getting explicit, of course, we'll stick at a T rating), I guess I could do that. Maybe._

_Let me know how I'm doing with the characters. I want to make sure I'm capturing them right. xo Review!_


	20. Costume

_A/N: In honor of the upcoming holiday, here's a Halloween0themed chapter. As a reward for being such great reviewers, and as per your requests, I've incorporated some *ahem* T-rated content. And because I think this story deserves a little diversity, I'm spicing things up and writing in a new POV that I haven't used yet. So everybody wins!_

_Steve Rogers' first real appearance as per Fire's Shadow123's request._

**20: Costume**

"Nice costume, Natasha." Stark appeared suddenly behind Natasha, his voice loud in her ear and his lips nearly brushing against her hair. She was taken off guard by his nearness, but since showing it would mean a point in Tony's favor, she kept her face expressionless and her posture unchanged. Stark's ego hardly needed any further stroking.

"Thanks," she said drily, casually tossing her crimson curls. For the hundredth time that evening, she wondered what had possessed her to accept Stark's invitation to this Halloween party. But she was here, she thought, so she might as well enjoy herself. Hence the reason she was standing in Stark's house, giving off a general air of unapproachability in order to avoid coming into contact with any of Stark's guests.

In an uncharacteristic display of holiday spirit, Natasha had come to the party in costume: Renaissance-era court attire, the sort of clothing royalty might wear to a masquerade ball. She shielded her eyes with an emerald green mask adorned with black lace. The tight bodice of her dark green, velvet dress clung to her curves, and the full skirt pooled out around her feet in ripples of fabric.

Stark nodded to the glass she held delicately in one hand, half-filled with a brand of ridiculously expensive vodka. "I see you found the vodka."

"Yeah," she replied, "Although if you were trying to make me feel at home, you could've gotten some caviar."

Natasha changed the topic of conversation, because talking about Russia with Stark always led to him making not-funny jokes about communism. Her eyes scanned the crowded room.

"Where's your girlfriend?" She searched among the throngs of people for Pepper Potts' telltale ginger hair, but the only familiar face she managed to pinpoint was that of Steve Rogers. The Captain was dressed as a Spartan and chatting amicably with two attractive young women, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were shamelessly flirting with him. His costume kind of made him look like Thor. Natasha couldn't help but wonder if the similarities were intentional or if Steve had just gone with the costume that would best show off his undeniably impressive biceps. She suspected neither; Steve wasn't the sort of person to have an ulterior motive in anything he did.

Natasha then realized Stark was speaking and turned her attention back to him at the last second. "Where's your boyfriend?" he had retorted. She glared at him without any real malice, more of a _don't-be-stupid_ kind of glare.

"Clint's not here," she said simply, skipping the part where she denied any romantic involvement with her long-time friend and ally, Clint Barton. It would only make her sound defensive.

Natasha spared a glance over her shoulder, taking in Stark's appearance in a split second. He was dressed in armor, but nothing like his Iron Man suit. For starters, it was white and black, as opposed to his customary red and gold. The helmet he held under the crook of his arm vaguely resembled a white gas mask. Despite the overall air of ridiculousness inherent in most Halloween costumes, this vaguely science-fiction-y suit looked good on Stark. Or perhaps Natasha was just accustomed to seeing him in his Iron Man armor. Either way, there was a cocky glint in Stark's eyes that clearly conveyed that he knew _exactly_ how attractive he was.

"What're you supposed to be?" she asked with an edge of derision. Stark raised an eyebrow.

"What, they didn't have _Star Wars_ in Russia when you were a kid?" Stark sighed as if Natasha's ignorance of popular culture deeply disappointed him. _What a drama queen._ "I'm a Stormtrooper," Stark said, gesturing grandly to himself. When this still failed to make any sense to Natasha, Stark added, "It's kind of an inside joke between me and Pepper."

Natasha was about to unleash yet another sarcastic witticism when a familiar, and notably less arrogant, voice behind them said, "Natasha?"

The Russian whipped around, smiling amicably at Steve Rogers. "Steve! You look…" She scanned him up and down, searching for the right word. "Attractive" and "muscular" were both apt descriptions of his appearance, but she ended up settling on a more neutral observation: "You look great."

"Thanks," Steve said sincerely. "I wasn't sure what to wear… Most of the costumes I came across were characters I'd never heard of in my life. Jack Sparrow? James Kirk? Anyways, I figured Spartans are universally cool, right? And it kind of reminded me of Thor, with the whole red-cape-and-chain-mail thing going on."

The corner of Natasha's mouth quirked up. Those had been her exact thoughts when she'd first laid eyes on Steve upon arriving at the party.

"Speaking of characters I don't recognize," Steve said abruptly, pivoting to face Stark, "Tony, what on earth are you supposed to be?"

Stark smirked. "Stormtrooper. It's a science fiction thing. One of these days I'll force you to watch _Star Wars_ and you'll understand."

Steve was clearly puzzled by this, but seemed to decide it wasn't worth asking and changed the subject. "Where's the Mrs.?" He asked jokingly, referring to Pepper. Stark cast a glance over his shoulder.

"She's still getting ready. She wouldn't let me get into our room all evening. Didn't want to 'spoil the surprise.' " Stark scowled. "I hate surprises."

Natasha raised her eyebrows. "You know the fact that Pepper is keeping her costume a secret means it's something sexy she'll let you rip off with your teeth later tonight, right?" The tips of Steve's ears turned bright red. _What a gentleman, getting all embarrassed when we talk dirty about other guys' girlfriends._

"Nah, Pepper's not the type," said Stark, shaking his head. "For one, she's terribly shy in front of large groups of people. And there are at least a hundred people here." He gestured around the room. It was, indeed, packed with guests.

"How many of these people do you honestly know?" Natasha asked, astounded that anyone could make _this many_ friends, even someone with as much money as Stark.

"Very few of them, actually."

Natasha decided that she would never understand billionaires.

. . .

"You know the fact that Pepper is keeping her costume a secret means it's something sexy she'll let you rip off with your teeth later tonight, right?"

The thought had certainly occurred to Tony. More than occurred to him, he had entertained several fantasies regarding Pepper in various revealing costumes. But he knew the chances of any one of those fantasies coming to pass were slim to none.

And so he denied Natasha's claims with a genuinely casual attitude, and their conversation turned down a different path, one that didn't make Steve so uncomfortable.

But their smalltalk – or as close to smalltalk as a former Russian assassin, a ninety-year-old military experiment, and a genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist with a metal deathsuit could get – didn't last long before they were joined by another member of their team. Clint was the last to arrive (Bruce had declined Tony's invitation to the Halloween party on the grounds that he didn't handle himself well around large crowds, and Thor was off-planet), and came dressed in a dashing tuxedo with black sunglasses.

"What are you, James Bond?" Tony asked.

"That's Agent 007 to you," Clint replied suavely.

"I don't get it," Steve muttered under his breath, "As usual."

"Iconic character," Natasha whispered in explanation. "He's a British spy."

Tony was about to add to Natasha's shamefully lacking explanation of such a cultural legend when he was interrupted by something he saw over Clint's shoulder: the door of the master bedroom opening.

The conversation ground to a halt as Natasha, Clint, and Steve turned to follow Tony's gaze. Pepper emerged hesitantly from the room.

Laying eyes on Pepper's costume (or lack thereof), Tony blinked rapidly and cursed. His mind spun with _so_ many inappropriate things and it was only years of sexual experience that kept him from drooling. Natasha broke into a devious grin.

"I take back what I said," she told him in a mock-whisper. "There's not enough costume there for you to rip it off with your teeth."

Clint nodded his agreement, despite not having been privy to that part of their earlier conversation. "Damn," he said, removing his sunglasses and openly gaping.

Steve contributed his opinion in the form of a wide-eyed expression of shock and a strangled noise in his throat.

Tony shoved past his teammates to approach Pepper, placing his hands on her soft, bare shoulders and leaning back to admire her in the dim lighting.

"Oh yeah," he said, "I approve."

Pepper grinned, uncharacteristically twirling a strand of long, amber hair between her fingers and wrapping her arms around Tony's neck. When he shivered, she broke into a mischievous smile.

"I thought I'd stick to the _Star Wars_ theme," she said, gesturing down to her slave-Leia costume. "It was this or the full-length, long-sleeved white dress she wears. I made an executive decision."

It was a good choice. Her hair fell gently across her shoulders and Tony was having a hard time keeping his eyes on her face.

"Would it be rude of me to ask everyone to leave right now?" Tony asked, sliding his hands down her sides until they came to rest on her waist.

"Probably," Pepper said, shrugging as if this wasn't all some devious method of torture she was purposefully inflicting upon him. Tony scowled.

"I can't believe you would wear something so completely provocative and expect me to stare at you for _hours_ and _not_ have sex with you. _That_ is cruel and unusual punishment, and I'm pretty sure there's a Constitutional amendment against that."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "First of all, believe it, because it's true. Secondly, yes, that actually is in the Constitution, the eighth amendment, I believe. I'm impressed. Seeing as just last week you claimed to… how did you phrase it? Ah yes. 'I have a Constitutional right to party.' "

"Hey! Pursuit of happiness, yeah?" Tony was pretty sure he remembered that from his high school Government class…

"That's in the Declaration, actually," Pepper said. "But you're close."

Tony glared at her, his hands absently sliding down to settle on her waist. "You just love this, don't you?" he asked bitterly.

"What, the being right? Or the knowledge that you'll spend all night waiting in agony until everyone leaves so you can shove me into our bedroom and get out of that ridiculous plastic armor? Yes to both." Yep, Pepper's catlike grin confirmed that she was just enjoying the hell out of this.

"I hate you," Tony said, scowling to make his point.

Pepper placed a slow, tantalizing kiss on the corner of his mouth. "Do you?"

"So much," Tony growled, eyes rolling back into his head, driven mad with wayward desire. Pepper removed her arms from around him and strode past him to the rest of the team, complimenting Natasha on her costume and striking up a conversation with Steve as if nothing had just happened.

This was going to be a long night.

. . .

"Next year," Tony said, after the last of the guests had been shooed out the door, as he ravaged Pepper's mouth with his own, "I say we forget the party and just skip straight to this."

Pepper chuckled against his neck. "No deal. I only dress up like a slut if it means I get to torture you through several hours of not having sex."

"You are a devious—mmm…" Tony's words trailed off into a pleasant noise in the back of his throat as Pepper recaptured his mouth. His hands found her waist and pulled her closer.

"How am I supposed to get you out of this suit?" Pepper asked after several minutes of thorough snogging.

"Here, I'll…" Tony stepped back and began the complicated process of taking off his Stormtrooper outfit. Pepper watched him with mild amusement as he struggled. "This costume seemed like such a great idea until now," he muttered, eliciting a laugh from Pepper. He couldn't help but grin. She had an adorable laugh.

"I was impressed with you tonight, Tony," Pepper said to break the stretch of silence. "You managed to keep it in your pants for a whole evening."

"Only by staring at you and envisioning all the things I would do to you once everyone left." Tony cursed as he stumbled and hit his head against the wall of the master bedroom.

"Trust me, I could tell," Pepper said. "Your ogling was about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face."

"Right, because you clearly know all there is to know about subtlety," Tony said sarcastically. "That's why you showed up in a glorified bikini to a Halloween party and swung your hips a little extra whenever you walked. Super subtle, that."

Pepper continued as if Tony hadn't interrupted her. "Not to mention you didn't make Natasha feel uncomfortable by coming onto her all night. That's a first."

"I was too busy making her and everyone else uncomfortable by coming onto _you_ all night," Tony said, having finally stripped down to the t-shirt and boxers he'd been wearing underneath the armor. "Besides, she and Clint have a thing. They refuse to acknowledge it, but everyone can tell."

"A 'thing'?" Pepper repeated, quirking an eyebrow.

"It's kind of hard to explain," Tony said, waving his hand vaguely. The rest of his words died on his lips as he turned and laid eyes on Pepper. She was seated on the edge of their mattress, leaning back on her hands, legs – _those legs_ – stretched out in front of her and lips parted slightly. A predatory grin spread across Tony's face.

In a flash, Tony was leaning over her, running his hands along the wide expanses of her soft, warm skin and kissing her thoroughly. She made a noise of arousal that completely sent him off the edge, and he earnestly shoved her down onto the mass of pillows on their bed (Pepper had a thing for pillows, and when Tony had first found this out, he'd gone straightaway to Walmart and bought two dozen of them for their bedroom) and rid himself of his shirt.

Pepper's back arched up into him; she sunk her teeth into his lower lip and he moaned, shifted, dragged his mouth down the line of her neck in a way that he knew drove her crazy, and sure enough she was rubbing her hips up against his and making those noises he was so familiar with but that thrilled him every time and he was deftly undoing her bikini-style top as she did wonderful things with her tongue and he practically dissolved with the rampant desire he'd been holding at bay all night and _how_ did she do this to him every time?

Pepper Potts had this uncanny ability to make him, part-time superhero Tony Stark, feel powerless.

Oddly enough, he was okay with that.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: How did I do with the Natasha POV? I'm pretty pleased with it. I probably won't very often write in a POV other than Tony's or Pepper's, but hey, who can say no to a little diversity, right?_

_I've been hesitant to write in any Avengers cameos, but you've all reacted so well to the ones I've thrown in so far, so I figured I'd continue sprinkling them in here and there._

___Anyone unfamiliar with Star Wars, you may not understand the references to Tony and Pepper's costumes. Just do Google image searches or something. It's your own fault for having never seen such iconic movies._

___By the way, that Constitution / Declaration of Independence bit? Reason #1 to never write fanfiction and study for an AP Government test simultaneously._

_Wow, okay, so every time I write an even slightly suggestive scene, my narration goes all stream-of-consciousness. I guess sex is pretty stream-of-consciousness though, right? It's not like you're thinking in proper English and full, cohesive sentences when you're in bed with someone. Speaking my abundant (and by "abundant" I mean "nonexistent") experience in this particular area of human activity._

_Review, my dear readers! Review!_


	21. Massage

_A/N: Warning – matters of a womanly nature are openly discussed in this chapter. Yes, that means periods. If that makes you uncomfortable, first of all, honestly, how old are you, twelve? And second of all, skip this chapter._

**21: Massage**

It was ten in the morning and Pepper looked miserable. She had burnt their toast, spilled their coffee, and broken a plate in making breakfast for herself and Tony. Now she was sitting cross-legged in front of the television, flipping channels at an impatient pace. She hadn't gotten dressed, despite it being a workday; she was still in her flannel pajama pants and fitted white tank. She'd put forth just enough effort to throw her hair into a sloppy bun and put on a sports bra before settling down for hours of unmitigated relaxation.

Until Tony went and ruined everything, that is, as he was wont to do.

It began when she grew exasperated with the morning news' insufficiency in holding her interest. She violently jabbed the "off" button and chucked the remote at the other end of the couch. It landed with a muffled thud.

Bored out of her mind, she threw her head back and groaned loudly. Summoned by his girlfriend's whiny disposition, Tony shuffled into the room, holding his coffee mug in one hand and setting the remote on the coffee table with the other.

"Something up?" he asked curiously. "I figured you'd be dressed and dragging me out the door to some dreadful meeting by now."

"Nice alliteration," Pepper observed in a thoroughly unimpressed tone, eyes half closed as she watched the ceiling fan spin lazily from behind her lashes. She gave no further answer to Tony's question. He gave her a moment before elaborating on his previous concern, more out of the fact that he was bored, she knew, than out of any real sense of sympathy.

"You seem like you're in a bad mood. Anything I can do? We could go to the mall. Buy you that expensive bag you were practically drooling over last time we went." He only offered because he actually didn't mind buying things for Pepper. She knew he took an old-fashioned, chivalrous sort of pleasure from showering her in gifts. It was very un-Tony-ish, but then again, many things that Tony did since they'd gotten together were.

"No, thanks," Pepper said, making an attempt at civility. "I don't feel like leaving the house today. Or get up from this spot on the couch at all."

"I could go to the mall and bring you back that bag," Tony amended, offering a one-shouldered shrug. By this point she deduced that he was _really_ bored and basically looking for an excuse to get out of the house without seeming rude. Another un-Tony-ish thing: caring about whether or not his actions seemed rude.

"No," Pepper said noncommittally. She reached for the remote, discovered it was just out of her reach, and gave up lazily. Tony rolled his eyes and fetched it for her pointedly. Pepper found an old episode of _Friends_ and settled back with a pleased smile.

"Are you tired? Should I leave?" Pepper sighed at Tony's interruption and shifted her gaze to glare at him.

"You can do whatever you want to do, Tony," she said, because, frankly, it was true. She'd never been able to stop Tony doing what he wanted; she didn't know what was stopping him now.

Shrugging, Tony stood. "Alright, but don't say I never tried to be a decent boyfriend," he said warningly. Pepper made a neutral "hmph," otherwise ignoring him, but still he didn't leave.

"Are you sick?" he asked after a moment. Ah. There was his other reason for staying. He was curious. He wanted to know what was _wrong_. An ironic smirk tugged at the corners of Pepper's mouth. Typical.

"Get out of the house, Tony, or you'll drive us both crazy," she told him, hoping he'd do as she said. After a long moment of obvious deliberation, he turned and made his way to the door, his heavy footsteps halting abruptly in the front hall. She could practically _hear_ the realization dawning in his eyes.

"OH!" he exclaimed, his voice carrying over to her through the echo-y house. "You're on your period!"

Pepper burst out laughing. "Yeah, Tony, that I am. Now get out of here and, I dunno, do whatever it is you do for fun. Because I know how much you hate _Friends_."

"I'd stick around if you were watching something more entertaining!" he assured her.

"You and I have very different definitions of the word 'entertaining'!" she yelled back at him. "Now go! And bring back Advil; we're running low!"

"So _that's_ where the painkillers keep disappearing to!"

. . .

Tony returned later in the afternoon to find Pepper – surprise, surprise – exactly where he'd left her. Watching _Pride & Prejudice_. He was just about to walk past, maybe make himself something that could count as a meal, utterly ignoring Pepper because he could not stand _Pride & Prejudice_. Or anything pertaining to Jane Austen, for that matter. His efforts to escape, however, were foiled when Pepper called out to him from the couch.

"I'll watch _The Matrix_ with you if you give me a back massage."

Tony's ears pricked up. _The Matrix_ was his favorite movie… of all time. Pepper liked it well enough the first few times they'd watched it. But Tony could rarely convince her to sit through it after the time she'd declared that, "This is ridiculous, why can't we watch something _besides_ this?"

It was a no-brainer. Give Pepper an intimate massage _and_ watch his favorite movie of all time? He practically leapt over the back of the couch to grab her hand and drag her into their room to watch the movie there. Pepper got up, got the movie started, wandered into the kitchen for popcorn and sodas and Red Vines, and returned, dimming the lights on her way back in. She lay down across the bed, giving Tony access to her back, and settled in for the film.

The previews played – neither party could be bothered to skip past them – and Tony's hands drifted to Pepper's tensed-up shoulders. As he began his ministrations, her shoulders gradually relaxed, and she buried her face in a pillow.

Tony hit "play" once the previews were over and the menu screen had come up. His hands worked up and down her spine and along the muscles of her back. He was no expert at this, but judging by Pepper's reaction, he was doing alright. In fact, the movie had barely started when he took note that the rise and fall of her chest had slowed. Even though it was still late afternoon, Tony figured he'd let her sleep.

She didn't wake till morning.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: …WTF is this chapter? I don't even know where this came from. Whatever, it's got Red Vines in it._


	22. Willpower

_A/N: T-rated content._

**22: Willpower**

_Shortly after Tony became Iron Man…_

She'd had one of her dreams again. One of _those_ dreams. She'd woken with a start to find herself tangled in her bedsheets, again, for the third time that week.

(_She woke up with his name on her lips._)

This was _not_ okay. (_Her body begged to differ._)

And now here she was, shoving him from one meeting to the next, making sure to keep him fed and watered like a freaking plant, because goodness knows he was completely incapable of looking after himself. (_Not that she minds._) And all the while she pretended everything was normal and did her best not to replay scenes and images from her dreams in her mind's eye as she went about the day.

Because that would be a ridiculous thing to do. She was _not_ attracted to Tony Stark. Not even a little bit.

…Okay, fine, she _was_. But certainly not willingly. She didn't _want _to be attracted to him. She didn't even know _why_ she was attracted to him.

Alright, that was also a lie. She knew perfectly well _why_. It was that damn voice of his. That smug, arrogant, self-assured, blunt, _ridiculously_ attractive voice. Especially when he got all serious. When he said her name, in that serious voice, it… well, it gave her chills. (_She imagined him saying her name in other circumstances…_) It was completely inappropriate, considering their strictly professional relationship. The relationship she struggled hard on a daily basis to _keep_ strictly professional. The relationship she feared (_hoped_) would soon be anything but.

(_She imagined that voice saying things to her, things that she should never imagine it saying, never imagine _him_ saying._)

So yeah. Definitely the voice.

And the hair. She couldn't forget the hair. Oh, gosh, why did he have to have such great hair? The sort of hair that you just couldn't resist running your hands through, if you saw it. Or, well, obviously, you _could_ resist it; at least, _Pepper_ could resist it. But only just.

So, the voice, and the hair.

And his brain. Tony's genius was sexy. Wait. What? No. Pepper didn't, did _not_ think that Tony was sexy. Not at all. (_Completely, absolutely, entirely._) The word she'd meant was… appealing. Yeah. His genius was appealing.

And his arc reactor. Why was she so fascinated by it? She hadn't a clue. Maybe it was just the idea of him shirtless (_pantsless, clothesless_), and the arc reactor just happened to be part of that.

And, oh, man, his eyes. When they got all dark and seductive… and his voice got all low… Geez, Pepper realized, she must have the willpower of a mountain to resist the urge to snog him absolutely senseless when he got like that. But those big, dark eyes… They were almost enough to undo her.

(_In her dreams, those eyes were clouded over with lust. She imagined hers were too._)

She wondered, in her weaker moments (_constantly, all the time, every day_), if he ever thought about her this way. If he ever noticed her voice, her hair, her eyes, her body. She noticed his body. She wished she could _stop_ noticing his body. But as for him…

Well, he was skilled at hiding his desires, if he had any. Sure, he flirted with her (_she'd gotten good at not blushing_), but then, he was Tony Stark. He flirted with everyone. Everything that moved.

But she couldn't help wondering (_wishing, hoping, dreaming_)…

. . .

_Later, their first night together as a couple…_

As it happened, Tony was fascinated with her hair. _Fascinated_ with it. He was always touching it, burying his nose in it, staring at it all fanned out behind her head on the pillow. (_Breathing it in._)

Her eyes were such an indefinable shade of blue. And they crinkled up when she laughed…

Speaking of which, her laugh – though he rarely had the privilege of hearing it – was infectious. A disease. In spite of its rarity. Or perhaps because of it.

And her body. He couldn't even _begin_ to describe her body.

(_Yes he could. He could describe every detail, every curve. He knew it inside and out, could make it do things he'd previously only fantasized about. It could make him do things he'd previously only fantasized about._)

He wouldn't know where to begin. All her vast expanses of soft, warm skin that made him go absolutely crazy. The way it seemed to fit perfectly against his (_two pieces of a puzzle made to fit together_). The way it moved. Writhed. Reacted.

And so it was, late one night as they lay plastered against each other, her head tucked under his chin and one of his legs draped across both of hers, keeping her near, that Tony said something quite unexpected.

"You are beautiful, Pepper Potts."

He felt her stiffen in his arms, momentarily taken aback, before relaxing, tilting her head up to place a soft kiss where his chin met his neck. He closed his eyes. His senses were still tingling. (_Heart pounding. Mind reeling. He wouldn't let it show._)

"You're pretty attractive yourself, Tony Stark," Pepper muttered wryly, her lips brushing against his skin (_his nerve endings seemed to have multiplied by the thousands_). "But you already knew that, you cocky son of a—" He cut her off with a swift kiss.

Of course he knew he was attractive. He wasn't a modest man. But it was nice that Pepper would finally admit it.

Several moments passed in silence, dragging on as the adrenaline faded and their lids grew heavy. (_But how could Tony possibly sleep after this?_) Tony leaned down, buried his face in that gorgeous amber hair, breathed in the scent of apples and Pepper. He didn't think he'd realized how much he loved apples until now. Top-notch fruit, really.

His eyes opened as his mind abruptly began to whir. It seemed that he was once again capable of coherent thought. (_For a while there, the blood flow hadn't exactly been going to his brain._) When he realized where he was, who he was with, what he had just done, he sighed contentedly, letting his eyes shut once again. (_Maybe he actually could sleep. Like this. All clinging to Pepper like wrapping paper around a present._)

"Pepper?" He didn't realize he'd spoken until the word was hanging between them in the air, a nearly tangible thing. (_Pepper, Pepper, Pepper. Virginia._)

"Mm?"

"Let's always be like this."

Pause.

"Okay, Tony."

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: …Wow. I think it's safe to say that this chapter is honestly the fluffiest thing I've ever written. Sort of in a different style. I liked the whole stream-of-consciousness thing I did a bit of near the end of chapter 20, so I took it up a notch and this was the result. An utter fluff-fest. A cotton candy chapter. So sweet it'll give you cavities. Be sure to see your dentist soon, guys._

_But seriously, what did you think of the narration? Good? Bad? Different? Review._


	23. Superhero

_A/N: Pepper is fifteen and best friends with Jason. She's never heard of Tony Stark, but it's clear that their fates are already connected._

**23: Superhero**

The Tooley's basement had been unfinished when they'd bought the house, how many years ago? It couldn't have been eight already, could it? Pepper did the math in her head: fifteen minus seven… wow, eight years. Eight years since a seven-year-old Pepper had spied the moving van parked in front of the house across the street. Eight years since she'd met Jason, the interesting but awkward boy with the neat black bicycle and the choppy haircut.

"Eight years," the now-fifteen-year-old Pepper Potts said as she descended into her best friend's basement, "And you and your mom still haven't done a thing to the basement."

Jason, thudding down the stairs behind her with his long, lanky limbs that he hardly knew what to do with when they weren't leaping across fields and striking at soccer balls, dismissed the issue with a one-shouldered shrug. "You know we can't afford it," he said casually. Money was one of the many issues he could discuss freely and comfortably with Pepper alone; bringing his mother's financial status up with anyone else rendered him embarrassed and uncomfortable. "And we don't need the extra room. Family of two, right?"

It was true; Jason and his single mother had never needed much living space. For the most part, with his mother never home, it was as if Jason lived in the house alone. As such, their basement had remained unfinished, uncarpeted, unfurnished, and cold. Excepting, of course, the isolated corner that Jason had long ago set aside as his personal sanctuary.

Jason's corner was, in Pepper's opinion, the coziest place she'd ever been, although not in any conventional sense of the word. He had added his own personal touch, over the years, nothing costly or impressive. A very small television set – the cheapest used model Jason could find that still worked with VHS – sat perched atop a stack of cardboard boxes. Each box had a year or years written on it in permanent marker. Pepper remembered sifting through these boxes with Jason, finding them full of long-forgotten photo albums, when she'd slept over once in seventh grade.

Across from the television, Jason and his soccer teammates had lugged a tattered old sofa with the stuffing coming out all the way from the junkyard to rest against the stairwell. There were scuff-marks from their cleats all around it, from when they'd hung out down here after a game or a practice.

Another stack of boxes functioned as a sort of coffee table, and an understuffed beanbag chair slouched against the adjacent wall. Along that same wall was a battered-up, rusty filing cabinet missing two drawers, also from the junkyard. This was where Jason kept his most prized possessions: comic books in the hollow space where the top drawer used to be and piles of VHS tapes in the second drawer, all his favorites, _Star Wars_ and _Back to the Future_ and _Jaws_. The third drawer's empty slot held, to Pepper's chagrin, stacks upon stacks of photographs she'd taken (their entry into high school had marked the onset of her obsession with amateur photography, and even though she generally thought herself no good at it, Jason insisted on keeping every photo she'd ever taken). Finally, the fourth drawer, perhaps best of all, housed Jason's not-so-secret stash of junk food.

Pepper loaded _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_ into the VHS player and sank down into the sagging couch beside Jason. She tore into a caramel chocolate bar with complete disregard for her horrid metal braces; they'd be coming off in a few months' time regardless. For the next hour or so, Pepper and Jason were enjoying a typical evening together.

Of course, "typical" was a relative term. Pepper tried not to think how her girlfriends were probably out on a group date that they hadn't bothered to invite her too because "she didn't have a boyfriend and would only feel left out." It was true enough; she hated feeling like an awkward extra, but didn't hate it enough to actually get a boyfriend. No way would she date any of the boys in their school. Even if Jason – the only decent guy in their school – was an option (he wasn't), they'd been friends way too long to ever be anything else.

Anyways, Jason was much more fun to spend time with than any of Pepper's girlfriends. She couldn't gorge on junk food with calorie-counters Charlotte, Olivia, or Roxanne.

Similarly, Jason couldn't talk about his personal life with his teammates. Pepper was his sole confidante, the only one he'd ever told about his confusion and worries regarding his mom, his future, his feelings.

So it was in that basement, sitting on the sofa that had heard more secrets even than the president's desk in the Oval Office, that Pepper struck up a very serious subject that she'd never, ever brought up with anyone before.

"Jason," she asked, "What was your first kiss like?"

Jason looked at her, clearly puzzled, before pausing the film right in the middle of one of Ferris's soliloquies. "You already know," he said. "It was in fifth grade. Sarah dared Kathy to kiss me, so she cornered me under the basketball hoop at the playground. It was really quick, since about two seconds in we got hit in the head with the ball. We both went to the nurse to get checked for concussions. I had a purple bruise on my head for a week. Not much to tell."

"I meant your first _real_ kiss," Pepper amended, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. "With Rick. In the bathroom after school. What was it like? What…" she shifted uncomfortably, "What did it feel like?"

Pursing his lips, Jason's eyes darted from one point to another, never really focusing on anything. It was a nervous habit of his. Better than Pepper; when she was nervous, she ranted. It had led to many a humiliating experience with boys she'd had crushes on.

"I know boys don't really like to talk about… _feelings _and all that," Pepper said quickly, "But… well… just if you could give me a general sense…"

"It was wet," Jason interrupted, meeting her gaze with his own turquoise eyes. "Looking back, it should've felt gross. But it didn't." He paused. "That's all I can think of without sounding like a total sop. Why do you ask?"

"I just…" Pepper bit her lip. "I had my first kiss yesterday." Jason's eyes widened.

"Who with?"

"Mark…"

"Mark?" Jason tilted his head in confusion. "But you think he's a moron."

"I know!" Pepper insisted. "I know, I do, I mean, I did, but…" She sighed. "He just… I could tell for a while he's been flirting with me and so I've been thinking about him _that way_ but I hadn't decided and I was taking the attendance up in Mr. Taylor's class and I saw him in the hall and he kind of trapped me against the lockers and…" She took a shaky breath. "It was wet, like you said, but for me it _was_ gross. I just wanted to get away! And I was just thinking, what if it's always like that? What if I never find anyone—?"

Jason rolled his eyes, cutting her off. "Seriously? _That's_ what you worry about? Your grades are so good and you've got so many admirers that all you've got left to worry about is whether or not you'll find your soul mate?" He tried to sound upset, but his grin spoiled the effect.

"Jason, you've got crowds of admirers, I don't know what you're getting so jealous about." Jason elbowed her playfully and shook his head, his longish darkish hair sweeping in front of his eyes as he did so.

"Really, though," he said, "You kiss _one guy_ and don't like it and you're suddenly worried that you'll grow old alone? Please. Just because none of the idiots at our school are good enough for Pepper Potts doesn't mean she won't one day be swept off her feet by the perfect man."

"And what do you think the perfect man will be like?" she asked, genuinely curious.

A mischievous smirk played across Jason's lips. "Broad shoulders, brown eyes, maybe a British accent—"

"I meant for _me_, stupid," Pepper chastised, "I don't care about _your_ dream guy."

"Oh," Jason said, pretending to have just realized this now. "The perfect man for Pepper Potts? Hm…" He screwed up his face in contemplation. "Someone… smart. Successful. Attractive. Masculine, into guy stuff like cars and motorcycles and rock music. He won't go out of his way to show his affection. Or maybe he will. He'll be kind of showy and over-the-top and won't care what anyone else thinks. He'll buy you things. Speaking of which, he'll be rich. But not from acting or music or sports or anything. Maybe he'll have inherited a ton of money from his parents, or made a fortune in business or something."

Once Jason had finished this speech, Pepper made a show of rolling her eyes quite spectacularly. "So basically I'm marrying Batman?" Jason adamantly shook his head.

"No, Bruce Wayne is way too dark for you. But you're on the right track. Someone _like_ him. But… funny and sometimes a little ridiculous. Confident… maybe even arrogant?" He paused, waggled his eyebrows. "Good in bed."

"You're crazy," Pepper said, shaking her head.

They resumed their movie, Pepper somehow feeling a lot better about herself in the boy department (although how Jason's words of supposed "encouragement" had actually helped was beyond her).

When she left that evening to go back home, feeling sick from all the junk food but otherwise in good order, Pepper didn't give a thought to the clippings from magazines Jason had taped on the wall, showing his dream cars and sleek motorcycles that he couldn't dream of affording but still loved to stare at and daydream about.

If she had spared a glance at these pictures, Pepper might've noticed a clipping of an eighteen-year-old boy leaning casually against a gleaming red motorcycle, his dark hair mussed up and his cocky smirk reflecting a laid-back, private sort of amusement in his just-as-dark eyes.

She might have paused to read the caption:

"_Tony Stark, genius son of renowned inventor Howard Stark of Stark Industries."_

She might have wondered where that boy was, what his life was like, having money and fame and all the things she'd always considered completely out of her reach.

But she never would have guessed that in another eight years, her life and Tony's would become so inexplicably intertwined, so hopelessly tangled, that it would be impossible for either of them to escape unchanged.

That one day, this boy, near man, would become a superhero, and that this would change everything.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: Cheesy ending. Don't judge. Focus instead on the good parts: more movie references, more Jason, and teenage Pepper. What do you think? I'm considering maybe after _100 Moments _(or during), starting an AU _Iron Man_ high school fic? The sort of thing you see in lots of different fandoms where the characters meet up and fall in love in high school? Would anyone be interested in that?_

_I don't know if Tony and Pepper have a set age difference, but three years suited my plot purposes, so I rolled with it. The next chapter will be another "flashback": Pepper's first day on the job as Tony's personal assistant. Then maybe more fluff. We'll see._

_Shame on all of you who have been reading but not reviewing. Dishonor on your families. To those of you who do review, five points to Gryffindor for each of you._


	24. Capable

_A/N: Tony and Pepper meet for the first time. This is after Tony's parents' death (he was eighteen when they died), and shortly after he inherited the company after Obadiah Stane's brief stint as CEO. As canon as possible, going by the movieverse._

**24: Capable**

"I must say, Miss Potts, when I saw what you looked like I thought for sure Tony had hired just another pretty face, but one look at your résumé and I'm starting to think you might be the one for the job."

A twenty-five-year-old Pepper glowed with pride at Mr. Stane's candid observation. "Thank you, sir," she replied, doing her best to maintain a strictly professional disposition. She had to act as though she got opportunities like this all the time. She had to be cool, calm, and collected.

Meanwhile, her heart was fluttering with anticipation as her heels clacked across the foyer of Tony Stark's house. (_Tony Stark's _house. His _house_. Where he _lived_. Wow.)

"Valedictorian of your graduating class from UCLA," Mr. Stane recited, reading off from a copy of her résumé on his BlackBerry, "Interned for a semester at Stark Industries, attended Stanford's school of business to obtain your graduate degree… All very impressive." The older man gave her a brief, encouraging smile and curt not of his head.

"It's clear to me that you're a heard worker, self-motivated, intelligent, and responsible. And that stunt you pulled back in the San Jose offices… _very_ gutsy move. You've got a lot of ambition, Miss Potts. I can see you going far."

Inwardly, Pepper profusely thanked whatever deity was responsible for this long-overdue recognition. All those years of toiling over menial waitressing jobs and tutoring gigs to pay her way through school were finally paying off. This was the job she needed, the stepping-stone on her path to success. Personal assistant to Tony Stark… now _that_ was a title that was sure to get her noticed. A year with Stark and she could secure any number of positions in the business world. To think of all the contacts she'd have… well. The possibilities were endless.

"Thank you," she repeated, deciding to keep her sentiments as brief as possible so as not to betray her breathless gratitude. "This is exactly the sort of opportunity I've been looking for."

"Now, before I force you to make any sort of commitment," Mr. Stane said, taking on a more authoritative demeanor, "I want to make sure you know what sort of work this job involves. I trust Human Resources went into some detail about what you'll be doing?"

"Yes, sir." Pepper nodded.

"So you know that you'll be responsible for keeping track of Tony's personal finances, getting him to any medical appointments, scheduling and keeping him on schedule, and accompanying him to any and all work-related functions?" Mr. Stane said, looking to her expectantly with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Yes," she said. That was what she had been told.

Mr. Stane nodded, somewhat distractedly. "Good, good…"

The formal, professional back-and-forth came to an abrupt halt as Mr. Stane placed a hand on Pepper's arm to get her attention. They had stopped at the end of a hall that clearly led to the living area; Pepper could see the kitchen just to her left. She looked up at her escort expectantly. When he spoke, his voice had changed alarmingly from the crisp, complimentary tone of before to something altogether different, hushed and urgent.

"It's only fair to warn you, Miss Potts," he said quickly, "That, if you choose to accept this position as Tony's personal assistant – and I'm not entirely confident that you will, when you see what he's like – it won't be anything like any other employer/employee relationship you've had in the past.

Drawing her eyebrows together, Pepper ventured a confused, "I'm not sure what you mean." How bad could this Tony Stark be? She anticipated something like the self-entitled corporate executives of the movies, or perhaps an arrogant billionaire who paid his inferiors no mind at all. But that would be no trouble; it would actually be preferable to some of the strict, heartless, or sometimes downright sleazy bosses she'd put up with in the past. So long as the position paid the bills (and after glancing at the estimated monthly pay, she was quite certain that it would).

Mr. Stane rubbed his forehead and sighed, seeming to search for some favorable way of phrasing whatever it was he needed to convey. "You have to understand," he began, "Tony's like a nephew to me. I have complete respect for his genius, but when it comes to his personal life… he just doesn't listen. He acts like he can do whatever he wants with no consequences. It's been worse since his parents died. He won't listen to anyone. His dad was the only man he ever…"

Mr. Stane trailed off with a sigh and seemed to be contemplating his next move. Pepper fidgeted uncomfortably, but otherwise remained the picture of patience.

"Just know… you're going to be more of a babysitter than a secretary. And if anything goes wrong…" Mr. Stane shot a concerned glance into the living area. "No one is going to blame you."

Before Pepper could request further explanation, Mr. Stane had pushed past her into the other room, with nothing more than a brief, "Stay here until I call for you." Confused and overwhelmed, Pepper did as she was told, inching as close to the wall as she could to eavesdrop on whatever strange encounter was about to ensue.

"Hey!" a voice exclaimed with unparalleled enthusiasm. The voice was not Mr. Stane's, but it was nonetheless familiar. Pepper had heard that voice on television before. It was Tony Stark. She gasped and listened intently. "Just in from Vegas, though I might be hearing from you. When we have a moment I wanted to tell you about this idea I had, thought you might run it past the board. Any word from that Potts girl on the position we offered her?"

Hearing her name, Pepper's eyes marginally widened and she pressed her ear up to the wall. Mr. Stane's voice hummed through the cavernous, open structure of the house, a deep, friendly rumble. It was difficult, Pepper realized, not to trust this man. An odd quality for a businessman, she thought.

"About that, Tony," the deep voice began. "I wanted to speak with you before I brought her in."

"I know, don't do anything that might give her grounds to sue me for sexual harassment," Stark recited in a bored voice. Pepper's eyebrows crept up. How intolerable was this guy?

"More than that, Tony," Mr. Stane firmly insisted. "Miss Potts is a hardworking, intelligent young woman who I believe might just be the one to get you back on track, and if you scare her off in the first week, so help me, Tony, I swear I'll… hire a nun from a Catholic boarding school as your nanny."

"Alright, _alright_, Obadiah," Stark said. Pepper pictured him throwing up his arms in exasperation. "I promise not to come onto her, get drunk in front of her, or bring women home until she leaves. That good enough?"

Mr. Stane – Obadiah, apparently – sighed audibly, loud enough that Pepper could hear. "I get the feeling it's as good as I'm going to get," he said. His voice much louder now, he called back to Pepper: "Come in!"

She hadn't been expecting that, not so soon. Pepper drew a deep, shaky breath, straightened her spine, and stepped into the room, mustering as unhesitating an air of confidence as she could before drawing up her gaze to look her employer in the eye.

_Well_. Now _that_ was a face that looked even better in person than it did on TV. Whatever greeting Pepper had prepared died in her throat upon seeing Tony Stark. He was attractive. Unlawfully so. A deepening sense of regret set in as she surveyed him: tousled dark hair, wide dark eyes gazing at her with startling intensity. She had caught him off guard; his open expression and slightly raised eyebrows betrayed this. His silk shirt and tight pants highlighted his favorable build, and she nearly choked on her own breath when his lips quirked up with a hint of a smile.

Regaining her composure, Pepper closed the distance between them and spoke. "Tony Stark, I presume?" She extended her hand, which he shook. "I hear you're quite a handful," she teased, hoping to come across as confident and casual.

Quite unexpectedly, Tony burst into a sharp but genuine laugh at Pepper's statement. "Obadiah said that, did he?" His laugh tapered off into a soft, warm chuckle. Pepper bit the inside of her cheek. "Well – Virginia, is it?"

"Pepper," she corrected. "Or Miss Potts. But… mostly Pepper." She hated being referred to as "Miss Potts." It was too stiff, too formal.

Tony's smile widened. "Pepper, then," he said. She offhandedly noticed that her name sounded better out of his mouth than anyone else's, and the unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach grew into something uncomfortably warm. When Tony finally released her hand, she realized that it was shaking. She was going to have to get used to this.

"I hear you're quite capable of handling me." He phrased this like an invitation. She tried not to dwell on that fact.

"All the same," Mr. Stane interjected, "I made him promise to be on his best behavior. At least until you get used to him." Pepper glanced at Obadiah, slightly surprised. She had entirely forgotten he was still there.

Tony cleared his throat, and Pepper couldn't help but wonder if he was experiencing the same phenomenon. "Obadiah, thanks so much for bringing Pepper," he said dismissively, "But if you don't mind, I'd like us to be left alone. I still need to determine if Miss Potts is indeed as… capable," something dangerous flashed in his eyes and sent a chill down Pepper's spine, "As you claim she is."

Obadiah granted them their privacy, his departure signaled by the sound of the front door closing, accompanied by a distinctly British disembodied voice announcing, "Front door closed," and startling Pepper into jumping about a foot in the air.

Tony's eyes raked Pepper up and down, lingering in places that made her cheeks heat. She averted her gaze and tapped her foot impatiently until he finally spoke, dissolving some (but not all) of the tension.

"Obadiah thinks you're 'capable,' " he said, almost mockingly, but with a delighted twinkle in his eyes. "I admit, you've got an impressive résumé. I take it you probably want to set some boundaries right off the bat? Let me guess. You aren't going to have sex with me, and you're going to do your job whether I want you to or not."

Pepper was taken aback. It was as if Tony had read her mind. She was going to have to work on being less predictable.

Before Pepper could think of anything more to say, Tony turned and began making his way to the kitchen. "Show up here at nine tomorrow. There's a car waiting for you outside." He glanced at her over her shoulder with a scrutinizing gaze. "I doubt you'll last more than a year. Tops." He smirked. "Feel free to prove me wrong. Few people do."

When Tony didn't say anything else, Pepper felt as if she'd been dismissed. Affronted and indignant, she stormed out of the house and slammed the door of the car that awaited to take her home. Fists clenched tightly, she made herself a promise.

She was going to be the best damn personal assistant Tony freaking Stark had ever had.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: I like to think Pepper was an ambitious young woman who couldn't say no to a challenge. And the other things I threw in – her initial attraction upon seeing Tony, Obadiah's "trustworthiness," Tony basically daring Pepper to prove him wrong – were hopefully all true to character._

_So my "five points to Gryffindor" offer last chapter got a lot of mixed-House responses. Seems that we have __**Fire's Shadow123**__ and __**Birds on the Sunset**__ hailing from Hufflepuff, and myself and __**Iron Morgan**__ from Ravenclaw. I'm glad some of the traditionally less-popular Houses are being represented._

_10 kilograms of love to everyone who reviews. The next chapter is something special I've been saving. Be excited!_


	25. Darkness

**25: Darkness**

The sun had gone down, probably around three or four hours ago, but the darkness had settled in so gradually as to escape Pepper's notice. She flexed her aching hands, drew a deep breath, and returned to her work, fingers flying across the keys. The bluish light of her laptop cast an eerie glow on her features. Her face was pale, and there were unmistakable streaks of gray under her eyes. She was exhausted.

The darkness that enveloped everything not illuminated by her computer's soft glow was flat and featureless, a perfect black. Pepper paid it no mind; her gaze, in fact, never left the screen.

Her eyes darted to the lower right corner of the display. Tiny numbers spelled out 1:04AM. She should have gone to bed hours ago. If she didn't start taking better care of herself, she was going to pass out in the middle of the day.

But she just couldn't ignore the ever-growing list of responsibilities that constantly demanded her attention, not tonight. Tony had gotten caught up in another project – he'd been down in the workroom all day – but instead of feeling neglected, Pepper was relieved. No Tony meant that, for the first time in weeks, she was free to catch up on her work.

It was one of the unexpected downsides of being in a relationship with Tony. Being his girlfriend made it even more difficult to handle the already weighty task of being his personal assistant. She was constantly letting herself get distracted whenever Tony barged into her office and suggested – or, if he felt the situation called for it, demanded – she take a "five minute break." But five minutes inevitably turned to ten, and then twenty, and by the time she became aware of how things had gotten out of hand, it was late and she needed to sleep if she had any intentions of remaining conscious the next day.

But not tonight. Tonight, there would be no rest for the weary. "The weary" had important things that needed doing.

A deep yawn interrupted Pepper's progress, reminding her of the late hour. She internally scolded her body for being so needy and shuffled into the kitchen for a snack, something to keep her awake…

She'd never much liked coffee, not to mention the inevitable crash when the effects of the caffeine wore off. The same could be said for anything sugary and artificial. Instead, she sliced herself a crisp red apple and poured a tall glass of tart grapefruit juice. Satisfied, she returned to where she'd spread out her papers around her laptop on the counter.

Still not feeling up for another hour or more of sitting stiffly on the barstool hunched over the keyboard, Pepper stretched a bit, like she used to do in college when she pulled all-nighters to study for exams.

At least somewhat rejuvenated, Pepper returned to work, but it seemed that everyone and everything in the world was conspiring against her, determined to sabotage her progress.

Soft footsteps approached, the door swung open gently, and Tony padded into the room. Not saying a word (which was extremely uncharacteristic of him and reason enough for Pepper to be suspicious), he came up to where she was seated, leaned over, wrapped his arms snugly around her waist, and rested his chin on the crown of her head. It should have been uncomfortable, but somehow it wasn't.

_Don't stop typing,_ Pepper commanded herself sardonically. _It can probably smell fear._ The corners of her mouth twitched up at her own private joke, but otherwise she showed no reaction to Tony's presence. He remained that way, curled up around her and watching her type, for what seemed to be a long time.

The silence between them was nearly a tangible thing, though not an unwelcome one. It hovered around them like a fluffy, opaque cloud, until Pepper couldn't even hear herself breathing anymore. As if her ears had decided to take a break from their all-too-tiresome job of, well, being ears.

When Tony spoke, his voice coaxed the silence away gently, and Pepper's ears buzzed back to life. His tone was low and not at all rushed or urgent. As if he had all the time in the world to do all the things that he needed. He sounded… not tired, but something like it. Calm. Calm in a way that was altogether different from his typical, casual, laid-back, and uncaring manner. Calm like fresh white snow or the undisturbed surface of a still pond.

"When are you coming to bed?"

Pepper's eyebrows twitched upward briefly in mild surprise. She'd been expecting Tony to say something along those lines, but his phrasing… Not, "Come to bed." Not, "I want you to come to bed." He'd made it a question, instead of a demand or even a request. It was strange.

Pepper knew she should probably be worried that Tony was up to something. Especially since nearly every time he'd acted strangely like this in the past, it had been because he _was_ up to something. But she couldn't find it in herself to care. A combined effect, she suspected, of both exhaustion and a slight headache threatening to form behind her eyes if she continued staring at the screen much longer.

"I have to finish a lot of things," she said, rubbing her temples and squeezing her eyes shut. "Work things that I didn't have a chance to get to last night, thank you very much." She tried (unsuccessfully) to keep some of the bitterness out of her voice. It wasn't Tony's fault. Well, it was. But it was also partly her own.

"Hm? Oh." She felt Tony's mouth curve into a small smile. "Because of all the fun sex."

Instead of getting angry (it _had_ been pretty fun…), she simply rolled her eyes. "You're so crude. But yes."

His smile widened. "Oh."

Once again, Pepper _should_ have been suspicious of his brevity. He hadn't even taken the opportunity to brag about how good he was in bed. But he wasn't doing any harm (yet), and she was _tired_. She would have time to worry about Tony in the morning. She continued with her work, because if she didn't keep moving she would fall flat on her face and never move again. Metaphorically speaking. Probably.

By this point, Pepper actually _was_ beginning to feel uncomfortable, with Tony's chin digging into her head and his nearness and body heat making her feel somewhat claustrophobic. And as another yawn threatened to escape her throat, she figured there couldn't be much harm in going to bed soon. She'd gotten a lot done, actually, more than she'd expected. Just as soon as she finished this one thing…

Of course, "this one thing" turned out to take longer than she had anticipated, and ten minutes later, she was so absorbed in her work that she'd forgotten all about Tony's chin on her head and his arms around her waist. In fact, she almost didn't even register it when he spoke again.

"I love you."

His soothing voice was followed almost immediately by the removal of his arms from her waist, his chin from her head. The cold absence of Tony sent an involuntary shiver down her spine. The mouse clicked.

"Mmhm…" She made a noncommittal noise of recognition and dismissal. Soft footsteps retreated from the room. The door swung gently closed.

The mouse clicked again.

_Wait…_

Slowly it dawned on her, as her mind replayed the last bit over again. She sat bolt upright, eyes wide as a deer in the headlights, slammed the laptop shut, threw the door open, and ran after Tony, feet padding loudly against the hardwood floor.

She was actually impressed that she managed to throw herself at him so accurately in the near-pitch blackness (it would have been unbearably humiliating to land flat on the floor if she'd missed), but she did, and her arms were around his neck and her hands in his hair and her mouth on his mouth and she smiled into the kiss.

Pepper's entire weight was on Tony, her legs straddling his waist, and when they briefly broke apart to breathe, he laughed before plunging back in for more of this thorough snogging. His head bumped against something in the dark. The doorframe, probably. He broke away to mutter an irritated, "Ow," before returning his attention to her in the form of a bright, gleaming grin she could see clearly even in darkness.

"I'll take that as a—"

She interrupted him hastily with another passionate kiss. "You can take that as a, 'Took you damn well long enough, I love you too you bastard.' "

He laughed again, and they sealed it with a kiss (and other nefarious activities that lasted long into the night, or, technically, morning).

Pepper didn't get more than an hour of sleep that night.

Somehow, she couldn't truly bring herself to care.

Tony Stark _loved_ her.

Now _that_ was an extraordinary thought.

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: I seriously sat staring at the ceiling for hours thinking up the perfect way to spring the long-awaited L-word. Somehow this scenario just felt right, even though I spent most of the time I was writing it shaking my head and wondering, "What kind of a person thinks 'romantic' and comes up with _this_?"_

_HAS ANYONE SEEN THE TRAILER FOR _IRON MAN 3_? IT WAS BEAUTIFUL AND TERRIFYING AND WONDERFUL AND HORRIBLE AND BRILLIANT. IT MADE ME FEEL SO MANY FEELINGS THAT I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH OH MY GOSH WHAT IS MY LIFE._

…_Sorry. That was uncalled for. Please review._


	26. Fathers

_A/N: Firstly, sorry for the long delay. The IM3 trailer caused me to relapse into my superhero obsession and I decided it was best that I take a short break from it all. And then I had to take the SAT Subject Tests, so a lot of studying for that. But now I'm back!_

_These next few chapters will be different incidents in which Tony and Pepper both get very drunk, because (a) drunk conversations are an opportunity to get characters to say/reveal things they wouldn't say/reveal while sober, (b) I've done a "drunk scene" but it involved Bruce so there wasn't a lot of Tony/Pepper dynamic, which is something I'd like to explore, (c) drunk scenes are fun, and (d) I need practice writing them._

**26: Fathers**

It was late morning on a Wednesday. Tony woke up, saw the time, and wondered why Pepper had let him sleep in so late. It wasn't like her.

Shuffling around in his groggy state, he managed to stumble into the bathroom and caught a look at himself in the mirror.

His hair was a mess, like it always was in the morning, and his eyes were still struggling to stay open. Meanwhile, he belatedly noticed a bright green post-it note stuck to his chest. Intrigued, he plucked it off and squinted at the letters – written in Pepper's neat, loopy handwriting – until his sleepy brain could force them into words.

"_Gone out. Don't wait up. Emailed you your schedule. DON'T BE LATE TO ANYTHING._

— _Pepper"_

The last five letters were written in larger letters than the rest of the note, and underlined severely. Tony groaned at the prospect of going about his day without Pepper to keep him on track and pay attention for him. All the same, he trudged over to where his phone was plugged into the wall, charging, and opened his email. Sure enough, the first item in his inbox was from Pepper. He opened the attached file.

"_12:30PM – board meeting_

_2:00PM – lunch with Jefferson at the White Rabbit_

_5:00PM – Lakers game (Rhodey can have my ticket)"_

It wasn't a packed schedule, nor a particularly unpleasant one. In fact, Tony was rather looking forward to the Lakers game. He did wonder, however, where it was Pepper had gone off to, and why.

Deciding not to dwell on the issue, Tony shrugged, tossed his phone aside, and strode over to the wardrobe to get dressed. Rhodey was more fun to watch basketball with anyway; Pepper never really got into the games, and Rhodey loved the Lakers. So Tony felt certain he would still have a fun night.

After he suffered through a long and arduous board meeting, of course. Resigned to his fate he searched for something decent to wear, all thoughts of Pepper's mysterious absence shoved to the back of his mind.

. . .

When Tony returned home, after a fantastic win by the Lakers and the subsequent after-party at a nearby sports bar, he had forgotten all about Pepper's disappearance. That is, until he entered the dark master bedroom to find it exactly as he'd left it that morning: cold, disordered, and empty.

Up till that moment, Tony had been certain that Pepper was only taking a well-deserved day off and would be back by nightfall. But it was nearly midnight and she was nowhere else to be found: not in bed, not in her office, not watching television.

That was when he began to worry. He flashed back to when Pepper had been mugged, and a million horrifying scenarios played out in his mind. Growing frantic, he dialed Pepper. Her voice rang out over the phone: _"You've reached Pepper Potts. Please leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I—"_ Frustrated, Tony ended the call, interrupting Pepper's voicemail. He was about to ask Jarvis to track Pepper's cell when he heard… something.

For a moment he thought perhaps he'd imagined the noise, the sound of glass clinking. But… no, there was another sound, this time a muffled thud. He traced the noise past the kitchen to the bar area. With the exception of the parties he occasionally hosted, Tony rarely spent time in this corner of the house, and Pepper even less so, which was why he hadn't thought to look for her there. Pepper rarely drank – there was the one time at that charity event when they'd gone on their first public "date," that time in Stark Tower with Bruce, and that New Year's Eve party when they'd had their first kiss, plus a few other exceptions. But for the most part, she limited herself to a glass of wine on special occasions or a single beer at an informal event.

So naturally the last thing Tony expected to find when he came looking for his girlfriend on the bar was her seated on the bar counter, legs dangling beneath her, drinking wine straight from the bottle and surrounded by a few empty bottles of the intoxicating liquor, some even spilling onto the floor. But that's exactly what he found.

For a moment he just stood there, at a loss for words. When he finally found his voice, he could only manage a single word: "Pepper?"

The lights were dim; if it weren't for the shaft of silver moonlight shining through the window and casting its glow on Pepper's ginger hair, he might not even have known it was her. He flicked on the hall lights to see her by, and was further taken aback by Pepper's disheveled state.

Her hair was a mess, falling out of its loose bun, and her clothes – a sweatshirt and jeans, uncharacteristically frumpy for her – were off-center. But what really caught Tony's attention were her red, puffy eyes and the matching tear-trails running down either side of her face. Her startled, deer-in-the-headlights gaze transformed slowly into a glare under his surprised gaze.

"_You_," Pepper said, the hoarseness of her voice startling Tony. She jabbed an accusatory finger at him, but overshot and nearly toppled from the counter. He rushed forward to steady her, but she shoved him roughly away, refusing his help.

"_You_ have _no_ right to judge me, Anthony Stark." Her words slurred together, but Tony could understand her well enough. Limp amber hair fell into her eyes and she didn't bother to brush it away. "I put up with _years _of you showin' up drunk every night. Drunk every night like my brother. And still, once a year, the day your parents died, you come home _completely_ wasted, jus' drunk out of your _mind_, and d'you know what, Tony?" Pepper's tears were flowing freely now, and she gestured angrily with the wine bottle. Some of the liquid sloshed out onto Tony's shirt; he scowled but didn't say anything. "I deserve to do the same!"

"You..." Tony processed Pepper's words, and came to a terrible realization. "Oh, hell, Pepper, today's a year since your dad died, isn't it?" He was reminded of the same night, exactly one year earlier, in Disney World, when Pepper had received the news of her father's death. Suddenly, everything that had happened that day made sense to Tony. He wrapped his arms around Pepper, and this time she let him.

"Pepper, I had no idea. You absolutely _do_ deserve it." He pulled away to meet her eyes, the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "In fact, how about we take a few bottles of ridiculously expensive vodka onto the sofa and get drunk? We can suffer through miserable hangovers together in the morning."

After seeming to consider this for a moment, Pepper nodded, leaning on Tony's shoulder to get down from the bar. "Hey, speakin' of vodka," she said, only slightly unintelligably, swaying on her feet and tilting dangerously as she stood unsupported, "I read online the other day that there's this vodka worth, like, a million dollars or some ridica… ridicl… ridiculous number that's, I d'nno, filtered through diamonds or somethin' crazy. Figured you'd know if it was true, since wastin' huge amounts of money on crazy stuff like that is kind of your thing."

"I do not 'waste huge amounts of money on crazy stuff,'" Tony replied indignantly, leading Pepper to the sofa, a few bottles of vodka in his arms.

Pepper shot him a skeptical look. "Metal robot deathsuit, small collection of sports cars, jewelry for your girlfriend on literally every holiday," she listed, ticking of the examples on her fingers.

"So you're saying you _don't_ want me to buy you jewelry?" Tony replied, smirking as she perched herself beside him on the couch.

"I'm just sayin' it's funny sometimes…" She lowered her voice to imitate him. "'Happy Flag Day, Pep, have a ruby necklace!' 'Happy Hanukkah, love, I got you pearl earrings!' Tony, 'm not even Jewish."

"Since when have I ever called you 'love'?" Tony asked.

"Never." A grin stretched across Pepper's face. "But you should."

Tony laughed, holding out a bottle of vodka. Pepper clinked her half-empty wine bottle against his.

"Cheers."

. . .

"Y'know, Pep," Tony said, feeling more than a little buzzed, "The whole reason we're doin' this… this drinkin' thing was b'cause of the annivers'ry of your dad's death."

"Yeah?" Pepper said, taking a swig of vodka. "What's your point?"

Tony paused, screwing up his face in confusion. "I… don't remember." Pepper laughed.

"Hell, Tony, how much have we drank? I'll be pukin' out my guts this morning an' it'll be all my dad's fault. All his fault!"

Now it was Tony's turn to laugh. "Parents suck."

"Fathers suck," Pepper replied a Tony casually slung his arm across her shoulders. "It's pathetic, but I di'n't even care about mine till he was gone. He wasn' that great a father. But now 'm all upset."

Tony nodded. He could understand that, probably more than Pepper knew.

"What was your dad? Somethin' with tools, I remember…"

"A mechanic," Pepper confirmed, nodding slowly. "But before, he was an Air Force pilot."

"Ahh," Tony said, smiling faintly. "A military man, like Steve."

Pepper's face was suddenly hard and serious. "No," she said shortly. "Not like Steve. Steve is _nothing _like my dad. Steve is… nice an' sweet an' caring an'—"

"Careful, or I might start to think you've got a crush," Tony teased.

"Ugh, I'd be so much better off if I had a nice boyfriend like Steve instead of a jerk like _you_," Pepper teased right back, poking Tony in the gut to punctuate her point. "Anyways, my dad wasn' like that at all. He was… I d'nno, the sort of man who thought emotions were a sign of weakness. A 'real man.'" She stuck out her tongue to show how she disagreed with this philosophy.

"'M sensing some bitterness here," Tony observed, a bit sarcastically.

"You can damn well be sure 'm bitter," Pepper said. "Dad always liked Sean better than me. Sean, the strong, manly football player, the _boy_. An' then I went off to college and became successful, and Sean, he became a drunk an' an addict an' got sent to jail." Pepper smirked triumphantly. "I sure showed 'im."

"I bet you did," Tony said, but his jovial manner had faded a bit. Drinking this heavily always brought on memories of his own father, which wasn't helped by their current topic of conversation.

Pepper seemed to catch the somber mood as well, because she suddenly broke out into tears again. "Oh, hell, Tony, I feel terrible," she said, "Talkin' about 'im like this. Tony, when he died… I hadn't seen 'im in a _year_."

There was a long stretch of silence as Tony tried to form the words he wanted to say. His drunken brain wasn't helping. Finally, "Do you know what the last thing I said to my father was?"

Pepper looked up at him, tears in her eyes, but he kept his gaze straight ahead. He had never told this to anyone. But, as it happened, he and Pepper had more in common than he thought. He took a breath and began.

. . .

_Flashback…_

"Shut up! SHUT! UP!"

Eighteen-year-old Tony slammed the car door in his father's face, storming into the house and throwing open his father's liquor cabinet, not caring if he got caught stealing from it.

The front door was flung open and sharp footsteps approached. Tony took a swig of his father's most expensive wine, straight out of the bottle, just to spite him. He smirked smugly as his father approached, fuming.

"What?" Tony snapped, throwing his arms out wide. "Disappointed that your son has picked up your drinking habit? _Surprised?_ You shouldn't be. After all, aren't you supposed to be some sort of _genius_?"

"Aren't _you_?" his father retorted, just as quick. Tony's grin only widened; he took another gulp of wine and twitched his eyebrows, daring his father to go on.

And Howard Stark was never one to back down from a challenge. Tony knew that. That's why, when his father grabbed him by his shirt collar, red-faced and fuming, Tony was as unsurprised as he was smug.

"Anthony _Edward_ Stark," his father yelled, "You _will_ put that down and get in the car this instant or I _will_ disinherit you!" Of course, of course. This was his father's fallback threat. Father and son both knew, however, that the elder Stark would never go through with it. He needed Tony to inherit the company. The company he'd built, that had become the most important thing in his life. More important, even, than his only son.

"Fine!" Tony exclaimed, refusing to be manipulated, wrenching his shirt from his father's grip and stepping back sharply. His head banged against the cabinet behind him, and for a moment his vision blurred, but he set his jaw tight and refused to be deterred. "Do it! I'll just go live with Uncle Edward until you _die_!"

"The only reason my brother treats you any better than I do," Howard Stark explained fiercely through gritted teeth, "Is because _he_ doesn't have to put up with your attitude every day!"

"'_Every day_'?" Tony repeated. "HA! If I saw you 'every day' we probably wouldn't even have this problem! If you gave me _half_ the attention you give your work, if you cared about me _half_ as much as you care about your precious _company_—"

"I built this company through my own hard work!" Howard yelled, gesturing wildly in anger towards his insolent teenage son. "I work day in and day out so you and your mother can afford to go out and spend money like it grows on trees! Your car, your education, all of it paid for because I spend all my time working, building my 'precious company,' as you say; all because I want to give you your _best chance_! You think I _like_ never being home?"

"I think you _love_ it!" Tony replied, pushing past his father but not turning his back.

"Well one day, Anthony, you'll own this company!" Howard said. "And you'll know what it's like; you'll spend just as much time working as I do, because you'll understand that that's how you get by in this world! You _work_! And when you have a son who constantly disrespects you and whines about your devotion to your work and how you're never home, you'll know _just_ how it is for me!"

"I'll _never_ be like you!" Tony screamed, storming down the hall towards the door, throwing it open and marching outside, fumbling for his car keys in his pocket. "I'd rather _die_ than be like you!"

Bottle of wine still clenched in his hand, Tony jumped into his car, revved the engine, and took a swig. He stepped on the gas and sped off, no particular destination in mind, just needing to get away from the father he wished he didn't have.

. . .

_The Present…_

"That was the last time I ever saw 'im alive," Tony said, a humorless smile turning up one corner of his mouth. He met Pepper's gaze with a startling intensity, unnatural focus for a drunk. "They died in a car crash. An' me, the drunk teenage driver, I lived." Tony laughed mirthlessly at the cruel irony of his young life.

Pepper took Tony's hand, but didn't say a word. She didn't know what to say. Fortunately for her, she didn't need to; Tony continued.

"He's the reason 'll never have kids. I know 'd be like he was. Always away. Puttin' my work first. Except worse, because I'd be publicly riskin' my life in a metal suit ev'ry other weekend." He quirked his eyebrows, attempting to lighten the mood. Pepper decided to let the seriousness of the matter slide, because all this solemnity was making her drunken head hurt.

"I never much wanted kids either, honestly," Pepper admitted light-heartedly. "Not that we are even _close_ to a point in our relationship when we should be thinking about that."

"Hey, 'm so drunk it's a miracle I haven't proposed to you yet," Tony joked.

"Yeah, good thing too," Pepper agreed. "This would be a terribly unromantic way to propose. An' no ring, either. For shame."

Tony rolled his eyes. "It's four in the morning," he said, on an entirely different note. "We should prob'ly go to bed."

"I can already tell this is gonna turn into an evil hangover in the morning," Pepper groaned, getting to her feet.

"We have plenty of painkillers. I'll hold your hair if you throw up, an' 'll ev'n make breakfast. Waffles. With whipped cream and straw— raspberries. Not strawb'rries. You're allergic to strawb'rries. See? I remembered." Tony grinned proudly.

"'D rather have peaches," Pepper said, bumping his arm with her shoulder playfully as they walked hand-in-hand.

Tony paused in the doorway of the master bedroom, leaning his forehead against Pepper's. "Peaches it is, then," he whispered sleepily. She smiled, taking off her jeans and climbing in her bed in her sweatshirt and underwear because she couldn't be bothered to properly change, popping a mint in her mouth so she wouldn't feel bad about not brushing her teeth.

"By the way," Tony said as the oblivion of sleep was claiming her. "I meant to ask, where were you all afternoon?"

"I drove to my father's grave," she said simply. Tony instinctively wrapped himself around her as they settled into bed, breath smelling of liquor but neither of them really caring.

"Next time, 'll go with you."

Pepper smiled against his neck. "You only say that so you can avoid goin' to any more board meetings on your own."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You know it."

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: Sorry if any of the dialogue was difficult to understand. But, you know, they're drunk. That's how it is. Did you notice how I've finally mentioned Rhodey? Did you like the Howard/Tony dynamic? How about Pepper's brief description of her father? Tell me your thoughts! Review! xx_


	27. Dare

_A/N: Another drunk scene. Hope you enjoy. On an unrelated note, Fire's Shadow123 has recently gotten me hooked on ABC's _Once Upon A Time_, so you can blame her for any recent and future distraction. (Just kidding, of course, don't blame her for anything, she's a wonderful person.)_

_T rating. Non-graphic sex and, ahem, sexual behavior. Ye've been warned!_

**27: Dare**

Pepper downed her fifth – or was it her sixth? – shot of tequila, grinning widely at Tony, who was sitting across from her at her desk. The desk was cleared of its usual mess of papers and files and office supplies. Pepper laid out her cards, but her triumph was short-lived as she got a look at Tony's hand. Her smile faded into an expression of disbelief.

"How do you keep beating me?" she wondered aloud as Tony claimed his winnings. They'd been playing poker for the past hour, and Pepper _just kept losing_. She pouted and leaned across the table, reaching forward to brush a stray strand of Tony's hair to the side. "Am I just that awful?"

"No, love, I'm just that good," he teased, a self-satisfied grin spreading across his ridiculously handsome face.

"Let's play something else," Pepper announced abruptly, gathering up the cards before Tony could tease her for being a sore loser.

It was fortunate that she'd put Tony in such a good mood, with the tequila and poker and wearing her shortest pair of shorts and tightest tank top. She slid the deck of cards into its box and set it aside, reclining in her office chair and twisting it back and forth a bit.

"What game do you suggest?" Tony asked, leaning forward and taking a shot. Pepper considered her options. Not a card game, or anything strategic or luck-based. Tony was strategically superior in every way (he _had_ fought battles, after all, she told herself) and Pepper had no manner of luck at all. So she settled on something immature and harmless. Well, _relatively_ harmless. By which of course she meant not harmless at all.

Her grin returned, if possible even wider and whiter than before. "Let's play Truth or Dare," she suggested. She leaned back, arms behind her head, gauging Tony's reaction. He raised an eyebrow but didn't tease her for picking such a "girly sleepover game" as she'd fully expected.

"Alright," he agreed with a shrug, leaning back as well. "Do you want to go first?"

"No, you first," she said. She took a shot. "Truth or dare?"

Tony seemed to seriously consider his choices, but Pepper knew he was just mocking her. She repressed a much-needed eye roll.

"Let's start with truth," he finally decided.

"Alright," Pepper said, nodding. She hadn't even thought up a question, but it wasn't a moment before one popped into her mind: "What's your favorite kind of sex to have?"

It was surely a forward question to begin with, but they were drunk and kinky and could hardly be held responsible for their actions. There wasn't a chance the evening wasn't going to _end_ in sex, so Pepper figured they might as well _start_ it that way to begin with.

Tony grinned, widely, smugly. "You know how I like it," he said simply. "If it doesn't hurt in the morning, then it wasn't worth the effort."

Crossing her arms, Pepper snorted. "Only because half the time you fall out of bed. Or off the couch, or off the table, as the case may be. Usually _on top of me_." She narrowed her eyes to verify that when this happened, _yes, _like _hell_ it hurt. …Not that she ever complained in the heat of the moment. "Not to mention you've banged your head against a wall or doorframe while we were making out too many times to count. And our poor headboard gets its fair share of knocks from your thick skull."

It was true. Tony was a very, er, _passionate_ person. And he didn't always take his surroundings into consideration. Or the force of gravity, for that matter.

"Alright, my turn to ask," he said quickly, not liking where this conversation was headed (which was, the topic of his inability to _not_ hurt himself). He leaned with his elbows on the desk. "I already know you like it rough, so no use asking that. Oh, wait, you haven't even chosen truth or dare yet. Sorry. Truth or—?"

"Dare," Pepper finished for him confidently. Tony grinned devilishly, but Pepper's head was buzzing pleasantly and she couldn't be bothered to worry.

"Perfect," Tony remarked, leaning back and sounding far too pleased. "In that case, I dare you to take off my shirt. With your teeth. Keeping eye contact _the whole time_."

Pepper bit her tongue playfully. _Clever._ She skirted the desk, approaching Tony. He was wearing a button-up shirt. This was going to be difficult. "So long as you don't mind me ruining your shirt," she warned, kneeling and holding one of the buttons between her teeth. Tony's wicked grin widened.

"Virginia, you can ruin anything you like."

. . .

A half-hour later, Tony and Pepper were still going strong.

Their truths had been harmless, albeit occasionally embarrassing, things. Tony found out that Pepper was obsessed with his hipbones. Pepper found out that Tony was obsessed with her hair (not that she hadn't already known). Pepper had had drunk rebound sex with the geeky kid in her American Literature class in college not once, but twice. Tony surprisingly didn't lose his virginity until his senior year of high school (because, he said, his attention level was such that he got bored of each girl before their hookups could get that far). Pepper lost hers in her freshman year of college (to her steady boyfriend, she assured him, because she was _not_ a slut). In _his_ freshman year of college, Tony banged his thirty-year-old Neurobiology teacher. He didn't remember her name, but he got an A in the class. And, lastly, Pepper _had_ kissed a girl, once: her best friend Saffron, when they were wasted and alone and Saff was questioning her sexuality. (After which they had both firmly established that they were straight and _never_ wanted to do such a thing again. The kiss hadn't been enjoyable at all. And no, Pepper snapped when Tony asked, there had been _no_ cherry chapstick involved _whatsoever_).

Pepper dared Tony to chew gum and kiss her at the same time (that hadn't ended well). She gave him a lap dance (that ended _very_ well). He made out with her against the doorframe and managed not to hit his head, proving that he was perfectly coordinated and not at all clumsy, thankyouverymuch. Until, of course, he tripped and caused Pepper to hit _her_ head.

And before either of them were aware of any change, Pepper and Tony were fiercely, passionately snogging against her desk; she took a moment to shove her laptop aside as Tony set out on his quest to arouse her in every way he knew possible (and some ways he didn't). Pepper's back arched up into him, an entirely involuntary reaction; her fingers tugged at his hair as he explored her neck with his tongue.

They both tasted strongly of tequila, and if her mouth wasn't otherwise occupied Pepper would have been desperate to wash the stale scent of alcohol from her breath, but right now that was hardly the first thing on her mind. In fact, the first _and_ last thing on her mind – before her thoughts were so conveniently driven away by Tony's hips grinding against her own – was something along the lines of, _I don't think I'll ever be able to do paperwork on this desk again. I think I may have to burn it._

. . .

_ash the airbender_

. . .

_A/N: The falling-out-of-bed thing is an obvious reference, but I'd just like to explain my expansion of that concept. My head-canon is that he gets so intense and passionate that he doesn't really, well, pay attention. He's not clumsy, not at all. Just… preoccupied ;)_


	28. Heat

_A/N: Sorry my updates have become less frequent. I have this and another chapter ready, though, so hopefully you can forgive me. Both very short, sorry. The theme for the next few chapters is weather. First, a hot summer afternoon in Los Angeles. Enjoy!_

**28: Heat**

It was hot outside. _Very_ hot outside. Tony labored in his workroom, staving off the midsummer California heat with the AC cranked up all the way, blasting the entire house with frigid air.

But the heat of the machinery and the ever-present summer air pressing on the walls of the house combined to make the experience unbearable. Breathing out heavily, Tony wiped at his forehead with the back of his hand.

He couldn't focus, not on a day like this. He shut down what he was working on and ascended the stairs, slowly, weighed down by the heavy summer air.

"Pepper?" Tony called, not entirely sure where she'd be. He didn't remember her saying she was going out, but then again, he wasn't the greatest of listeners. Hopefully she was still home. Besides working, being with Pepper was one of the few items on his list of ways to stave off boredom.

Before he got far, Tony's call was answered. "In here!" Pepper's voice answered lazily, floating out from the bedroom. Tony followed the sound, entering the room and laying eyes on his girlfriend. As soon as he saw her, his eyebrows shot up.

Pepper was reclining on the mattress, the bedsheets scattered across the floor and crumpled at her bare feet. Her hair was fanned out behind her, and her arms were stretched out at her sides.

But that wasn't what really held Tony's attention. In fact, what had initially caught his eye was Pepper's state of dress. She was lying on the bed, gazing up at him languidly, and completely, utterly naked.

Tony's eyes sparkled mischievously. "Hey," he said with a smirk, taking another step closer, almost predatory.

Pepper groaned, but not in the fun way. "No, Tony, it's too hot for that."

"So what I'm hearing is, you're lying in bed naked and you expect me not to do anything about it?" Tony asked, clearly communicating the ridiculousness of her expectations.

"Yes?" she said hopefully, though it was clear she realized now how unlikely Tony was to comply with her request.

Sure enough, Tony's grin stretched wider and he leaned over her, voice lowered severely. "Yeah, not gonna happen."

. . .

_ash the airbender_


	29. Thunder

_A/N: Another weather-themed chapter. This time a thunderstorm. Also short. References to the IM3 trailer. Enjoy! xx_

**29: Thunder**

Pepper woke with a start, sitting bolt upright, the echo of a scream on her lips. Her skin was glazed over with a sheen of sweat, and her brain pounded against her skull. Breath coming fast, she ran her hands through her hair and shut her eyes tightly.

"It was only a dream," she said aloud, quietly, to herself, letting out a shallow, shaky sigh. "Only a dream."

Rain thrashed against the house; it seemed Los Angeles was experiencing quite a violent downpour. Thunder rumbled in the distance; Pepper could barely hear it over the sound of her own heavy, panicked breathing.

Tony stirred in the bed beside her, stifling his usual groan of reluctance that accompanied his daily awakening. "What happened?" he mumbled. In his sleep-deprived state, his query came out as more of a slurred, incoherent statement, like he'd forgotten or couldn't be bothered to place the question mark at the end of it: "Whaappened."

Embarrassed, Pepper wiped the sleep from her eyes, feeling sticky wet trails on her cheeks and realizing she must have been crying in her sleep. She was certain she must look an absolute mess. "N-nothing," she stammered, humiliated that her voice came out hoarse and feeble. "Just a n-nightmare," she murmured quickly, hoping to dispel the issue.

Unfortunately, Tony was not so easily distracted (this time, at least). "About what?" he asked intently. Lying on his stomach, he propped himself up on his elbows, looking up at Pepper with those big brown eyes and a placid expression on his features. Unable to resist that damned face of his, Pepper heaved a hearty sigh that ended with a hiccup, much to her displeasure, and began a brief explanation.

"The same as always," she said simply, eyes fixed determinedly on her own hands clasped in her lap, wringing the blankets between thin, pale fingers. "You. Dying. In that… suit." She bit her lip and gestured half-heartedly at nothing in particular. Abruptly, she turned to him, voice gaining a little strength.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," she assured him, realizing that, even if he wasn't upset about him, she had still inconvenienced him by waking up screaming, and as much as he would deny it, Tony needed his sleep. "I know you haven't been sleeping well either. Since… since New York."

It wasn't something they said aloud, but they both knew it. Tony had been having frequent nightmares ever since the Avengers initiative had been put into action to defeat Loki. He didn't wake up screaming, as Pepper had just done, but he would get up and walk around, stare out a window, lose himself in his thoughts.

Clearly not wanting to talk about it, Tony batted away Pepper's remarks. Cuddly person that he surprisingly was, he wrapped himself around Pepper and continued their conversation only after he had got himself settled and comfortable.

"I'm used to running on very little sleep," he confessed lightly. Pepper's head was tucked against his neck, and she could feel Tony's chin bob up and down as he spoke. The rumble of his voice resonated from his chest, and Pepper sighed contentedly. But no sooner had she closed her eyes than…

_CRASH._

The loud, unexpected boom of thunder sounded far closer than the last. Caught off guard, Pepper shrieked, flailed, and somehow ended up on the floor, her butt sore from a hard landing. Tony leaned over the mattress, offering her a hand up.

"Who's clumsy now?" he teased. Pepper smacked his arm.

"Still you."

A flash of lightning illuminated the room. Pepper steeled herself for what would inevitably follow…

_CRASH._

"I hate nighttime thunderstorms," she growled, greatly displeased with nature's choice method of dispensing precipitation. "The troubles of being a light sleeper," she bemoaned.

Tony snuggled up to her again, arms around her waist. It really was a pity Pepper's back was to him; she wanted him to see her thoroughly un-amused glare.

"Why do I feel like you're taking advantage of my pain just so we can spoon?" she wondered flatly, although a part of her that was buried beneath so many layers of no-nonsense Pepperness was immensely pleased with their current position.

"I'm nothing if not an opportunist," Tony said cheekily into her neck. Pepper tried to suppress a shiver as his mouth brushed against the skin there. Her efforts, however, were in vain.

"You are intolerable," she said, a bit unconvincingly considering she was currently snuggling into him contentedly.

"Mm," Tony murmured indifferently. "That's probably why you're the first girlfriend I've had in years who's lasted longer than a month or so. The longest was in college. That professor I slept with. Lasted all term." He paused, before adding, "And now I can't even remember her name." He chuckled. Pepper rolled her eyes.

"I seem to remember very few of your so-called 'girlfriends' lasting longer than one night," Pepper agreed drily. She definitely didn't miss those days, constantly showing another half-dressed Barbie doll the door and trying not to come across as jealous, assuring herself that she definitely _was not_ jealous, knowing deep down it wasn't true.

"For some reason almost all of them expressed a desire never to see me again," Tony said, sounding genuinely puzzled.

"Yeah, that happens when girls wake up alone in a strange house after a night of hot sex." Pepper tried and failed not to sound condescending. "They kind of expect you to stick around and offer breakfast, or at the very least kick them out yourself instead of sending your overworked PA to do it."

"I'm a busy man, Pepper!" Tony said defensively. "I have things to do, places to go."

"If by 'things' you mean 'tinkering with machinery' and 'places' you mean 'your workroom,' then yeah, sure, I'll buy that."

"I'd be offended if I weren't so tired," Tony said, without any real bitterness. Pepper stifled a yawn, wordlessly agreeing with Tony on the whole "tired" thing.

"Feel free to go back to sleep."

_CRASH._

This clap of thunder was significantly farther off. Pepper didn't react; her eyes drifted shut.

Tony made a noncommittal noise of agreement. Within minutes they were both asleep.

. . .

_ash the airbender_


End file.
